X-RAY AND NEUTRON REFLECTIVITY FROM SPREAD MONOLAYERS

X-ray and neutron reflectivity measurements on spread films of docosanoic acid on an aqueous subphase have been used to deduce structural information. At surface pressures of 30-40 mN m-1 the molecules are perpendicular to the subphase surface. If the subphase has pH greater than 5 and contains cadm...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Grundy, M, Richardson, R, Roser, S, Penfold, J, Ward, R
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 1988
Description
Summary:X-ray and neutron reflectivity measurements on spread films of docosanoic acid on an aqueous subphase have been used to deduce structural information. At surface pressures of 30-40 mN m-1 the molecules are perpendicular to the subphase surface. If the subphase has pH greater than 5 and contains cadmium ions (about 2.5 × 10-4M) the ions bind tightly to the acid head groups and are not in a diffuse layer. At low surface pressures (film area twice the "close-packed" area) the film breaks up into islands (greater than 0.2 ωm in size) of close-packed molecules. At pH ≈ 6 the molecules in the islands are still perpendicular to the surface but at pH ≈ 3 they are tilted by about 30° to give a thinner film. © 1988.