Bending elasticity of adsorbed oil-water interfaces: direct measurement and relevance to oil sands engineering

众所周知，油和水不能混合。然而，如果在体系中加入适当的表面活性剂混合物(类似于肥皂分子)，不相容的液体就有可能在纳米级混合，有效地形成均匀的溶液。这种油和水的混合可以在油砂工程、食品科学和药物输送等不同领域找到重要应用。控制油水纳米级混合的物理性质是界面(即油水分割面)的弯曲刚度。在这个项目中，将开发新的微观机械技术来量化液体界面的弯曲刚度。这些实验将在微米长的尺度上进行(大约是人类头发厚度的十分之一)，这个过程将涉及分析非常灵活的界面表面的随机波动。通过平衡随机化效应(温度)和恢复力(界面的弯曲阻力)，可以计算出液体界面的弯曲刚度。

It is well known that oil and water do not mix. However, if an appropriate concoction of surfactants (similar to soap molecules) were added to the system, it is possible for the immiscible liquids to blend on the nanometre scale, effectively forming a homogeneous solution. This blending of oil and water can find important applications in such diverse areas as oil sands engineering, food science, and drug delivery. The physical property which controls the nano-scale blending of oil and water is the bending stiffness of the interface (i.e. the dividing surface between oil and water). In this project, novel micromechanical techniques will be developed to quantify the bending stiffness of the liquid interface. The experiments will be conducted on the micrometre length scale (about one tenth the thickness of a human hair), and the procedure will involve analysing the random fluctuations of a very flexible interfacial surface. By balancing the randomizing effect (temperature) with the restoring force (bending resistance of the interface), it is possible to calculate the bending stiffness of the liquid interface.