Dynamics of Surfactant Self-Assemblies : Micelles, Microemulsions, Vesicles and Lyotropic Phases

Dynamics of Surfactant Self-Assemblies explains the dynamics of micellar equilibria, tracking surfactant exchange, and micelle formation/breakdown processes. Highlighting the structural similarities of amphiphilic block copolymers to surfactants, this volume elucidates the dynamics of more complex self-assemblies that surfactants and amphiphilic block copolymers form in solutions. The book first discusses self-assembling processes taking place in aqueous surfactant solutions and the dynamic character of surfactant self-assemblies. The next chapter reviews methods that permit the study of the dynamics of self-assemblies. The dynamics of micelles of surfactants and block copolymers, solubilized systems, microemulsions, vesicles, and lyotropic liquid crystals/mesophases are reviewed successively. The authors point out the similarities and differences in the behavior of these different self-assemblies. Much emphasis is put on the processes of surfactant exchange and of micelle formation/breakdown that determine the surfactant residence time in micelles, and the micelle lifetime. The last three chapters cover topics for which the dynamics of surfactant self-assemblies can be important for a better understanding of observed behaviors: dynamics of surfactant adsorption on surfaces, rheology of viscoelastic surfactant solutions, and kinetics of chemical reactions performed in surfactant self-assemblies used as microreactors. Dynamics of Surfactant Self-Assemblies offers a unique and comprehensive review of the literature that exists on the dynamics of the various surfactant self-assemblies and a unified perspective on this topic. It provides researchers with a useful guide for the dynamics of the surfactant systems that they wish to investigate.