Enhanced Crystallization and Evaporation Retardation in Mixed Surfactant Systems at the Air-Water Interface: A Study on Chain Length Compatibility and Molecular Ratio

Effects of chain length compatibility and molecular ratio on the two-dimensional crystallization of a binary mixed surfactant system with non-identical molecular size and its consequence on retardation to water evaporation are described via Langmuir Blodgett films. The mixed monolayers corresponding to 1:3 exhibit minimal area per molecule owing to identical chain length. The maximum crystallization was also observed at this ratio from BAM images at constant surface pressure. The prominent changes in the physical properties of the analyzed system, for the 1:3 molecular ratio, are attributed to the augmented stability mediated by the hexagonal closed packing and packing behavior in the mixed monolayer. The observation was validated from a random ball mixing model and simulation study. The maximum retardation to evaporation was also observed for the 1:3 molecular ratio and is attributed to augmented stability and spreading of the monolayers at the air-water interface.