Mechanism of biosurfactant adsorption to oil/water interfaces from millisecond scale tensiometry measurements.

ABSTRACT: Many biological molecules are by their nature amphiphilic and have the ability to act as surfactants, stabilizing interfaces between aqueous and immiscible oil phases. In this paper, we explore the adsorption kinetics of surfactin, a naturally occurring cyclic lipopeptide, at hexadecane/water interfaces and compare and contrast its adsorption behaviour with that of synthetic alkyl benzene sulfonate isomers, through direct measurements of changes in interfacial tension upon surfactant adsorption. We access millisecond time resolution in kinetic measurements by making use of droplet microfluidics to probe the interfacial tension of hexadecane droplets dispersed in a continuous water phase through monitoring their deformation when the droplets are exposed to shear flows in a microfluidic chan

SUBMITTER: Kong L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5665796 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature