Eur. Phys. J. E 6, 191-200 (2001)
Flow-controlled growth in Langmuir monolayers
R. Bruinsma1, F. Rondelez2 and A. Levine31 Physics Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA and Instituut Lorentz voor Theoretische Natuurkunde, Universiteit Leiden, Postbus 9506, 2300 Leiden, The Netherlands
2 Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Curie, Institut Curie, 11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
3 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
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(Received 21 May 2000 and Received in final form 18 June 2001)
Abstract
We propose a hydrodynamic mechanism, based on the Marangoni flow, to
describe growth instabilities of liquid-condensed islands in the supercooled
liquid-expanded phase of two-dimensional Langmuir monolayers. This Marangoni
instability is intrinsic to Langmuir monolayers and is not controlled by
the expulsion of chemical impurities from the liquid-condensed phase. The
hydrodynamic transport of the insoluble surfactants is shown to overwhelm
passive diffusion and to provide a mechanism for fingering instabilities.
The model can explain the observations by Brewster-angle microscopy of
ramified liquid-condensed islands in monolayers that do not contain the
fluorescent dye impurities, which are normally believed to be responsible
for Langmuir-film growth instabilities.
05.70.Np - Interface and surface thermodynamics.
68.18.Jk - Phase transitions.
47.20.Dr - Surface-tension-driven instability.
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2001
