Abstract
Adsorption of surfactant molecules at interface is an important aspect in surface science research directed at elucidating surface structures. Monomolecular films at the air-water interface or on the solid surface have been a considerable focus of recent model systems for biological membranes and two-dimensional pattern formation, photomechanical responses, and molecular recognition systems. A number of techniques have been employed to investigate the microscopic structure and morphological properties of insoluble monolayers on water and monolayers on solid substrates such as X-ray diffraction, nonlinear optical spectroscopy, Raman and infrared spectroscopy and Brewster angle microscopy. On the other hand, the application of these techniques to water-soluble surfactant monolayers adsorbed at the air-solution interface is still limited. This review presents the application of vibrational spectroscopy, which is a nondestructive and sensitive method of monitoring molecular conformation, to the characterization of surfactant monolayer.
