Critical micelle concentration and the size distribution of surfactant aggregates

A. Ben-Naim, F. H. Stillinger*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

A simple aggregation model for aqueous surfactant solutions is introduced to examine the relation between critical micelle concentrations and the size distribution of molecular aggregates. This model assumes ideal solution behavior for the aggregates and lends itself readily to numerical study. For ranges of parameter values that yield identifiable critical micelle behavior we find that the critical micelle concentration lies far above the concentration at which the size distribution changes from monotonically decreasing to nonmonotonic. This provides a vivid counterexample to the Ruckenstein-Nagarajan suggestion that these properties universally should occur together.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2872-2876
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry
Volume84
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - 1980

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