Nature of the oil/water interface and equilibrium surfactant aggregates in systems exhibiting low tensions

Oil/water interfacial tensions are reported for systems containing pure alkane, aqueous sodium chloride, and a pure anionic surfactant, either Aerosol OT or p-dihexylbenzene sodium sulphonate (DHBS). Evidence is produced to support the claim that monolayer adsorption at the oil/water interface can produce ultralow tensions (~ 1 µN m −1 ), and that the presence at the interface of a third, surfactant-rich phase is not necessary. The aggregation of DHBS and its distribution between oil and aqueous phases of various salinities have been investigated. It has been confirmed that the behaviour of DHBS in these respects is similar to that of Aerosol OT, as might be expected from its molecular structure. The sizes of microemulsion droplets in equilibrium with planar adsorbed monolayers have been determined, and related to the tensions of the plane oil/aqueous phase interfaces using simple existing theory.