Structural Description of Water‐in‐Oil Microemulsions Using Electrical Resistance

Abstract

Abstract The present article presents data on the formation and characterization of water in oil (W/O) microemulsion systems composed of ionic surfactants‐water‐benzene‐n‐alcohols (C 4 – C 8 ). The influence of the alcohol chain length and surfactant concentration, on the formation of microemulsion systems, has been investigated. When the amount of benzene or water was increased, the microemulsion system's appearance changed from clear to bluish to turbid. The transitions were identified on the basis of both visual appearance and specific resistance measurements. A dramatic change in the specific resistance was observed for the transitions. This was rationalized by assuming a change in the water structure from spherical to cylindrical to lamellae type. The critical n water / n oil ratio ( V c ), for stable microemulsion system was calculated with the help of viscosity measurements.