Determination of Interfacial Concentration of a Contaminated Droplet from Shape Oscillation Damping

Abstract

We present a method to measure very small interfacial concentration of a contaminant that is irreversibly adsorbed on the interface of a bubble or droplet. It is an application of the linear theory of shape oscillation which relates the Gibbs elasticity to the damping, extended by numerical simulations to deal with moving droplets. It explains previous unexpected observations on the effect of contamination at various oscillation wavelengths. The experimental procedure is easy to implement and can thereby deeply enhance the analysis of most systems involving uncontrolled contamination.