The Dynamics of Surfactant Adsorption
DynaSURF is an interactive computer simulation of the adsorption of surfactant molecules in a rectangular flow cell. Surfactants are surface active agents - molecules with a water-attracting (hydrophilic) end and a water-repelling (hydrophobic) end. The hydrophobic section of the surfactant molecule will adsorb at the surface. In the simulation, surfactant molecules flow from the left-hand side of the cell, and diffuse towards the cell's bottom surface, where they adsorb, subject to the chosen surface kinetics. Using a user-friendly X-Windows based interface, DynaSURF gives precise control of:
The flow of surfactant
along the cell and diffusion of surfactant molecules to the surface.
The surface kinetics at the solid/liquid
interface.
The simulation calculates and displays:
The concentration profile, which
shows how the concentration of
surfactant varies across the flow cell. This is displayed as a
multi-coloured contour map (above, left-hand side). The colours of
this may be changed to suit individual preference.
The surface flux, which is the rate of
change of
surfactant concentration at the surface, and is shown as a line graph.
The surface coverage, which is the
amount of
surfactant adsorbed at the surface at a given time. This is also
displayed as a line graph (above, right-hand side).
