Behaviour of water at hydrophobic interfaces

• The behaviour of water at hydrophobic interfaces has been studied both experimentally and theoretically in last few years. • The various experimental results had given values for the interfacial depletion layer resembling to less than monolayer of water. • This review article has the conflicting views of researchers on the nature and dimension of the interfacial depletion layer. • This review article summarizes some of the fascinating results to understand this hydrophobic interfacial gap. The behaviour of water near hydrophobic surfaces and interfaces is vital for the comprehensive understanding of different interfacial phenomena in biology and chemistry. The scarcity of density of water at hydrophobic interfaces, commonly termed as “hydrophobic gap” or “density depletion layer”, has been extensively studied by both experimental and theoretical/computational methods in the past few years. The various experimental results had given values for the interfacial depletion of water which resembles to fewer than a monolayer of water. This review article summarizes some of the fascinating experimental, computational and theoretical studies intended for complete understanding of this hydrophobic interfacial gap.