The structure of micelles and microemulsions

Abstract

From simple micelles in water, nearly spherical aggregates of amphiphilic molecules, to bicontinuous microemulsions, oil and water microheterogeneous mixtures stabilised by a surfactant film with both local and large-scale disordered structures, the world of surfactant-containing systems is fascinating. Depending on a subtle balance of attractive and repulsive interactions between molecules at interfaces, an extraordinarily rich polymorphism of aggregated structures can be observed. After summarising the basic general constraints controlling surfactant aggregation and the formation of interfaces, different structures of micelles and microemulsions are reviewed and related to interfacial film properties and the intermolecular interactions inside them.