Soluble surfactant spreading: How the amphiphilicity sets the Marangoni hydrodynamics.

Abstract

Amphiphiles are molecules combining hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts. The way they arrange in bulk and at interfaces is related to the balance between these two parts, and can be quantified by introducing the critical micellar concentration (cmc). Amphiphiles (also named "surfactants") are also at the origin of dynamical effects: local gradients of interfacial concentrations create the so-called Marangoni flows. Here we study the coupling between the molecule amphiphilicity and these Marangoni flows. We investigate in detail a spreading configuration, where a local excess of surfactants is locally sustained, and follow how these surfactants spread at the interface and diffuse in bulk. We have measured the features of this flow (maximal distance and maximal speed), for different types of surfactant, and as a function of all experimentally available parameters, as well as for two different configurations. In parallel, we propose a detailed hydrodynamical model. For all the measured quantities, we have found a good agreement between the data and the model, evidencing that we have captured the key mechanisms under these spreading experiments. In particular, the cmc turns out to be-as for the static picture of a surfactant-a key element even under dynamical conditions, allowing us to connect the molecule amphiphilicity to its ability to create Marangoni flows.