It appears that many surfactants will create rod-like micelles under various conditions but I can't seem to find a consensus as to how to smoothly control the shape of these micelles as well as their volume fraction.
In all of the literature I have read the shape of the micelles has been incidental to a larger question and I would love to see a systematic study if anyone knows of one!
Dear Craig Snoeyink, it depends on your working conditions. It may be a simple matter of concentration above the CMC, packing, or even shear flow. The transition from sphere to rod is well studied. Please have a look at the following paper. My Regards
Many factors can be involved in the shape of surfactant organizations. Some relevant parameters to think about include the critical packing parameter, the interfacial energy and the influence of additives.
Dear all, another possibiity is through the 'salting-out' following the Hofmeister series. Increasing salt concentration and decreasing temperature reduce CMC and favor shape transitions. Please have a look at the following free access paper. My Regards
10.1039/D0SM00982B
Rebeca Fortes-Martín , thank you for answering! The list of relevant parameters is useful, but for a non-expert like my self are there any resources for how to tune the micelle shape and size at different number densities/volume fractions?
suggest to look into the related work of Prof. Hoffmann
https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Heinz-Hoffmann-2032031813
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