Effects of solid-liquid interface on the interfacial tension measured by micropipet technique

Measurement of interfacial tension (IFT) using the micropipet technique involves the solid-liquid interface. At equilibrium, oil-water interfacial tension is determined from the interface curvature and the critical pressure, according to the Young-Laplace equation. This paper aims to examine the possible contribution of the solid-liquid interface on IFT measurement. Three different experimental configurations are used to examine the sought effect. The three configurations are straight, concentric, and tapered pipets with diameters ranging from 2.5 to 30 mu m. For all three configurations, the critical pressure is found to depend only on the pipet diameter. However, when the Young-Laplace equation is applied to determine the IFT, a significant error was noticed at small pipet diameters. The IFT error was described by an exponential function whose asymptote approached the independently determined IFT value with a sufficiently large pipet diameter. The IFT error is anticipated to arise from the layerlike effect of an "ultrastructured" liquid near the solid Surface. The solid-induced error in oil-water IFT is noted to fade away at lowered IFT by the addition of surfactant. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.