Abstract
Water-soluble amphiphilic polyethylene oxide-polypropylene oxide-polyethylene oxide (PEO-PPO-PEO) triblock copolymers (pluronics and synperonics) are used to build a PEO-brush at the aqueous solution/air interface. Microscopic foam films are formed from these solutions and their equilibrium thickness h is measured. Under certain conditions (high electrolyte concentration and low capillary pressure) h can be taken as a measure of the PEO-brush thickness L 0: h≈2 L 0. The results are in general agreement with the simple brush theory. However an additional influence of polymeric surfactants’ asymmetry is observed. Qualitatively this effect can be attributed to the self-assembly character of adsorption at the fluid interface, i.e. the competition between adsorption of PPO blocks and stretching of PEO chains. Results for low molecular EO-containing surfactants are also in line with the above findings.
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