Molar concentration–depth profiles at the solution surface of a cationic surfactant reconstructed with angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

In the current work, we first reconstructed the molar fraction–depth profiles of cation and anion near the surface of tetrabutylammonium iodide dissolved in formamide by a refined calculation procedure, based on angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy experiments. In this calculation procedure, both the transmission functions of the core levels and the inelastic mean free paths of the photoelectrons have been taken into account. We have evaluated the partial molar volumes of surfactant and solvent by the densities of such solutions with different bulk concentrations. With those partial molar volumes, the molar concentration–depth profiles of tetrabutylammonium ion and iodide ion were determined. The surface excesses of both surfactant ions were then achieved directly by integrating these depth profiles. The anionic molar concentration–depth profiles and surface excesses have been compared with their counterparts determined by neutral impact ion scattering spectroscopy. The comparisons exhibit good agreements. Being capable of determining molar concentration–depth profiles of surfactant ions by core levels with different kinetic energies may extend the applicable range of ARXPS in investigating solution surfaces.