Adsorption of submicrometer-sized cationic sterically stabilized polystyrene latex at the air-water interface: contact angle determination by ellipsometry.

Near-monodisperse, sterically stabilized cationic polystyrene latexes of either 122 or 310 nm diameter were prepared by aqueous emulsion polymerization using cheap, readily available reagents. At low pH, these latexes stabilized foams prepared by either hand-shaking or by using a foam column. SEM studies confirmed that the dried foam mainly comprised well-defined bilayers, which suggests that each air bubble is stabilized with a latex monolayer. Adsorption of the same latexes at the planar air-water interface was studied using the Langmuir-Blodgett trough technique. Surface pressure isotherms confirmed particle desorption from the interface on repeated compression of the latex monolayers. For the 122 nm latex at pH 2, ellipsometric analysis enabled a contact angle of approximately 43 degrees to be calculated from a simple two-layer model, which suggests that these particles have only moderate wettability. Similar results were obtained for the 310 nm latex, but the data were much less reliable in this case due to additional background particle scattering.