Analytical modeling of micelle growth. 3. Electrostatic free energy of ionic wormlike micelles - Effects of activity coefficients and spatially confined electric double layers

摘要

Hypotheses: To correctly predict the aggregation number and size of wormlike micelles from ionic surfactants, the molecular-thermodynamic theory has to calculate the free energy per molecule in the micelle with accuracy better than 0.01 kT, which is a serious challenge. The problem could be solved if the effects of mutual confinement of micelle counterion atmospheres, as well as the effects of counterion binding, surface curvature and ionic interactions in the electric double layer (EDL), are accurately described.