Gibbs surface elasticity, definition

As mentioned in the Sec. 1, an important thermo-dynamic parameter of a surfactant adsorption monolayer is its Gibbs (surface) elasticity. The physical concept of surface elasticity is the most transparent for monolayers of insoluble surfactants, for which it was initially introduced by Gibbs (18, 19). The increments A a and AT in the definition of Gibbs elasticity ... 

The response of an interface to a perturbation of its equilibrium state causes a gradient in interfacial area that results in a gradient in the interfacial tension, which tends to compensate the perturbation (Lucassen-Reynders, 1981). This feature is quantified by Gibbs definition of the surface elasticity as the change in surface tension per relative change in surface area ... 

The definition of Gibbs elasticity given by Eq. (19) corresponds to an instantaneous (Aft t ) dilatation of the adsorption layer (that contributes to o ) without affecting the diffuse layer and o. The dependence of o on Ty for nonionic surfactants is the same as the dependence of o on Ty for ionic surfactants, cf Eqs (7) and (19). Equations (8) and (20) then show that the expressions for Eq in Table 2 are valid for both nonionic and ionic siufactants. The effect of the surface electric potential on the Gibbs elasticity Eq of an ionic adsorption monolayer is implicit, through the equilibrium siufactant adsorption T y which depends on the electric properties of the interface. To illustrate this let us consider the case of Langmuir adsorption isotherm for an ionic surfactant (17) ... 

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