Interfacial dynamics and structure of surfactant layers.

The present article provides current opinion on studies of the interfacial dynamics, adsorption, and structure of surfactant layers. The physical principles and applications of physicochemical methods such as tensiometry, ellipsometry, photon correlation spectroscopy, and neutron reflectivity techniques, as well as relevant theoretical aspects related to the adsorption and desorption kinetics, interfacial structure development, wetting enhancement, and the effect of adsorbed surfactant films of the interfacial dynamics, are covered in detail. In order to make the text as self-contained as possible, essential mathematical derivations are given demonstrating how raw data, such as ellipsometric angles or neutron reflectivity, are transformed into sought layer characteristics, such as thickness or density.