Viscoelasticity of a carbon nanotube-laden air–water interface

The viscoelasticity of a carbon nanotube (CNT)-laden air–water interface was characterized using two different experimental methods. The first experimental method used a Langmuir-Pockels (LP) trough coupled with a pair of oscillating barriers. The second method is termed the Bicone-Trough (BT) method, where a LP trough was custom-built and fit onto a rheometer equipped with a bicone fixture to standardize the preparation and conditioning of a particle-laden interface especially at high particle coverages. The performance of both methods was evaluated by performing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis to calculate the signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Overall, the rheometer-based BT method offered better strain control and considerably higher SNRs compared to the Oscillatory Barriers (OB) method that oscillated barriers with relatively limited positional and speed control. For a CNT surface coverage of 165 mg/m² and a frequency of 100 mHz, the interfacial shear modulus obtained from the OB method increased from 39 to 57 mN/m as the normal strain amplitude increased from 1 to 3%. No linear viscoelastic regime was experimentally observed for a normal strain as small as 0.5%. In the BT method, a linear regime was observed below a shear strain of 0.1%. The interfacial shear modulus decreased significantly from 96 to 2 mN/m as the shear strain amplitude increased from 0.025 to 10%.

Graphical Abstract

Using two different experimental methods to characterize the interfacial rheology of a carbon nanotube-laden air-water interface