Authors

G. K. Bourov;A. Bhattacharya

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Chem. Phys.

Keywords

MONTE-CARLO-SIMULATION; CRITICAL MICELLE CONCENTRATION; MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS; LATTICE MODEL; SURFACTANT SOLUTIONS; SIZE; DISTRIBUTION; SOLVENT MIXTURE; PHASE-DIAGRAM; SYSTEMS; POLYMERS; Physics, Atomic, Molecular & Chemical

Abstract

We use a stochastic molecular dynamics simulation method to investigate the effect of optimal head group area in amphiphilic self-assembly. For a fixed tail geometry, we choose several sizes of the effective head group area and carry out a detailed study of how this affects the critical micelle concentration (CMC), the cluster distribution, and the shape of micelles for different concentrations and temperature. We find that with an increase of the effective head group area, the CMC is attained at a larger concentration of the free chains at all temperatures. Likewise, for a given concentration, amphiphiles with the larger effective head group exhibit a sharper cluster distribution with a tendency to form more spherical micelles. Our study shows a way to control the size and shape of the micelles and can have potential impact on the synthesis of nano-structures through surfactant mediated templating methods.

Journal Title

Journal of Chemical Physics

Volume

119

Issue/Number

17

Publication Date

1-1-2003

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

9219

Last Page

9225

WOS Identifier

WOS:000185988900046

ISSN

0021-9606

Download

Share

COinS