Surfactants are centrally important in many scientific and engineering fields and are used for many purposes such as foaming agents and detergents. However, many challenges remain in providing a comprehensive understanding of their behavior. Here, we provide a brief historical overview of the study of surfactant adsorption at the air–water interface, followed by a discussion of some recent advances in this area from our group. The main focus is on incorporating an accurate description of the adsorption layer thickness of surfactant at the air–water interface. Surfactants have a wide distribution at the air–water interface, which can have a significant effect on important properties such as the surface excess, surface tension, and surface potential. We have developed a modified Poisson–Boltzmann (MPB) model to describe this effect, which we outline here. We also address the remaining challenges and future research directions in this area. We believe that experimental techniques, modeling, and simulation should be combined to form a holistic picture of surfactant adsorption at the air–water interface.

中文翻译：

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从表面张力到分子分布：模拟表面活性剂在空气-水界面的吸附

表面活性剂在许多科学和工程领域中至关重要，并用于许多目的，例如发泡剂和清洁剂。但是，在全面了解其行为方面仍然存在许多挑战。在这里，我们简要介绍了空气-水界面上表面活性剂吸附的研究历史，然后讨论了我们小组在该领域的一些最新进展。主要重点是对空气-水界面处表面活性剂吸附层厚度的准确描述。表面活性剂在空气-水界面处分布较广，这可能对重要特性（例如表面过量，表面张力和表面电势）产生重大影响。我们已经开发了一种修改后的泊松-波尔兹曼（MPB）模型来描述这种影响，我们在这里概述。我们还将解决该领域中尚存的挑战和未来的研究方向。我们认为，应该将实验技术，建模和模拟结合起来，以形成表面活性剂在空气-水界面处吸附的整体图。