ABSTRACT
The self-assembly of surfactant molecules into a sphere with minimal contact between the hydrocarbon chains and water would lead to a hydrocarbon core radius equal to the extended length of the surfactant alkyl chain. For a repulsive polymer-surfactant system, the diffusion of the surfactant micelles is mainly determined by simple excluded volume or obstruction effects. One of the most important features of micellar diffusion in a polymer network is the micellar size. Micelles, microemulsions, monolayers and bilayers are central issues of the science of amphiphilic molecules. Isotropic surfactant solutions were in the past generally considered in terms of smaller or larger discrete micelles. Nonionic surfactants, also appropriately considered as short A-B diblock copolymers, have polar and nonpolar parts of similar size. The very large number of self-assembled structures that have been identified in bulk surfactant-water systems, both isotropic solution and liquid crystalline phases, stand in striking contrast to the common monolayer or bilayer picture of surfactants as interfaces.
