Surface energy measurements are usually difficult to assess when not considering a solid-air or liquid-air interface. Contact angles was used as a method of obtaining the interfacial energy of a silanol-water surface using carbon tetrachloride as a probing liquid. The theory for this work operated under the assumption that the pKa of a silanol surface could be measured by obtaining a titration like curve as a function of pH. A decrease in contact angle of about 7° was observed at a pH (pKa) of 3.5. This corresponds to an energy difference of 2 mN/m. -- Abstract.
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