Inverted Micelles in a Ternary System AOT‐Water‐Benzene as Studied by Small‐Angle Neutron Scattering

Abstract

Abstract We performed the small‐angle neutron scattering measurements on AOT/benzene micelles with and without the addition of water. The scattering cross sections were studied as a function of the contrast of a solvent (the scattering length density of mixtures of protonated and deuterated benzene). We found that the volume per single AOT molecule in the micelle increases considerably when a small amount of water is added to a solution of “dry” micelles. The aggregation numbers of the micelles in benzene were found to be smaller by ca. 50% than those reported for decane. The observed dependence of the radii of gyration on the solvent contrast agrees well with the common picture of the structure of inverted micelles even in the case of “dry” micelles.