Molecular dynamics study of the formation mechanisms of ionic SDS and nonionic C12E8 micelles and n-dodecane droplets

摘要

In order to clarify the early-stage kinetics of micelle formation in concentrated surfactant solutions, all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) calculations of the aggregation of surfactant molecules dispersed in water were performed for ionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), nonionic octaethyleneglycol monododecyl ether (C12E8), and n-dodecane. The relationship between aggregate domain length and elapsed time from the beginning of the MD calculation obeyed the well-known Lifshitz-Slyozov (LS) law for C12E8 and n-dodecane. In contrast, the aggregation rate of SDS did not obey the LS law. This difference is likely due to the differences in strength of the electrostatic interactions between the aggregates. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.