Application of Baxter’s model to the theory of cloud points of nonionic surfactant solutions

Abstract

It is argued that asymmetric phase diagrams and other properties of colloidal systems can be generated by a system of spherical particles interacting via a sticky hard-sphere potential (Baxter model). This concept is illustrated by application to the cloud-point transition in nonionic surfactants. A detailed interpretation of neutron-scattering, light-scattering, and phase-diagram results for the (${\mathrm{C}}_{8}$${\mathrm{E}}_{5}$) system is presented.