ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the concepts and theories used in the analysis and interpretation of scattering experiments from giant polymer-like micelles and provides examples of applications of the various approaches. The micelles have a locally cylindrical structure, and it is possible to find conditions where they grow dramatically with increasing surfactant concentration. Since they have some degree of flexibility, they attain conformations similar to those of polymers in solution. The analogy between classical polymers and polymer-like micelles is illustrated for scattering data from micelles at relatively low concentrations, that is, in the dilute regime. Due to the analogy between polymer-like micelles and polymers, polymerlike micelles have frequently been used as model systems for polymers and polyelectroytes. In turn, the application of theoretical concepts from polymer physics can provide a deeper understanding of polymer-like aggregates. At higher concentration the interpretation of scattering data is more complicated due to the presence of intermicellar interference effects.
