ABSTRACT
Surfactant self-assembly in solution and the associated formation of mesophase structures is well established, both experimentally and theoretically. This chapter describes how neutron reflectivity (NR), has been used to probe self-assembled structures at the air–solution and solid–solution interfaces. It shows how NR and small angle neutron scattering, have been used to probe the structure and composition of complex surfactant and polyelectrolyte/surfactant mixtures in solution and at interfaces, and the complex interplay between them. The chapter demonstrates how the surface behavior is critically determined by the evolution of the solution microstructure, and presents the thermodynamic framework in which this can be understood for polymer–surfactant mixtures. Surfactant adsorption at air–solution and solid–solution interfaces has been extensively studied and characterized by surface tension and a number of other techniques. The nature of surfactant adsorption at the solid-solution interface, on both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces, has been the subject of extensive studies and a number of excellent reviews exist.
