Ion adsorption and zeta potential of hydrophobic interfaces

TL;DR

This paper reviews the ion adsorption and zeta potential of hydrophobic interfaces, highlighting differences among various types and emphasizing the need for more experimental data to understand ion affinity.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of electrical properties of hydrophobic interfaces using literature data, revealing significant differences and gaps in current understanding.

Findings

Electrical properties vary significantly among different hydrophobic interfaces.

H$^+$ ions show stronger affinity than OH$^-$ ions across interfaces.

More experimental data are needed to confirm ion affinity trends.

Abstract

Hydrophobic interfaces have unique physicochemical properties and are used in various chemical products such as food, cosmetics, soap, and medicine and technologies such as pan coating and ski wax. In this chapter, we describe the fundamental concept of hydrophobic interfaces and explain their ion adsorption and zeta potential by using experimental data from the literature. Thus far, these electrical properties are considered universal for solid/water, liquid/water, and gas/water interfaces; however, a careful comparison in this chapter will reveal significant differences among them. To confirm that the affinity of H$^+$ ions for all hydrophobic interfaces is stronger than that of OH$^-$ ions, more experimental data on hydrophobic liquid/water and solid/water interfaces are required.