A small-angle neutron scattering study of nonionic surfactant molecules at the water–oil interface: Area per molecule, microemulsion domain size, and rigidity

Abstract

The small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) of bicontinuous microemulsions of 19 different water-n-alkane-CiEj (n-alkylpolyglycolether) systems has been measured. All scattering curves exhibit a broad scattering peak which permits determining the characteristic length scale ξ for bicontinuous structures at symmetric water and oil volume fractions, i.e., φ=0.5. Various random models predict ξ=aδφ(1−φ)/φc. We find that ξ is indeed inversely proportional to the surfactant volume fraction φc. Approximating the effective surfactant chain length δ by δ=νc/ac, where ac and νc are the area and the volume of the surfactant molecule, the numerical value for a is determined to be a=7.16, which is close to, but significantly different from those used in theoretical models. The head group area ac at the water–oil interface is obtained from the large q part of the scattering curves. It is found to be independent of i and k, the carbon numbers of the alkyl chain of the surfactant and of the alkane, respectively. However, it depends strongly, and nearly linearly, on the head group size j of the surfactant. Within experimental error it is described by ac=29.3+6.20j (Å2).