Surfactant layers at the air/water interface: structure and composition

Interfacial phenomena associated with the surfaces of liquids are well understood in terms of surface tension and adsorption from solution. Those, that relate to surfaces of solids are not, and have been treated at a different level of quantification. An approach based on the Gibbs equation is shown to yield a rigorous unified treatment of phenomena in wetting transitions and surface forces not encompassed by the DLVO theory.