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SANS studies of the microstructure of a three‐componnent microemulsion
Author(s) -
Samseth J.,
Chen S. H.,
Litster J. D.,
Huang J. S.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of applied crystallography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.429
H-Index - 162
ISSN - 1600-5767
DOI - 10.1107/s0021889888006843
Subject(s) - microemulsion , pulmonary surfactant , radius , microstructure , spheres , volume fraction , small angle neutron scattering , neutron scattering , materials science , bromide , hexane , volume (thermodynamics) , surface area to volume ratio , chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , scattering , chemical engineering , chromatography , thermodynamics , composite material , optics , organic chemistry , physics , computer security , astronomy , computer science , engineering
Small‐angle neutron scattering measurements have been performed on a three‐component microemulsion system consisting of water, hexane and didodecyl‐dimethylammonium bromide. For a water‐to‐surfactant weight ratio of 0.95 and less than 5 wt% surfactant, these measurements are best fit by a model with a Gaussian size distribution of spherical water droplets in hexane. The average water core radius is determined to be about 2.9 nm. On addition of water while the same water‐to‐surfactant ratio is maintained, there is some evidence that the basic unit of the microstructure remains a sphere with the same radius. The interaction between the spheres is found to be attractive, and the spheres may be connected for volume fractions of water larger than 5%.