1998/08/17 by P. van der Schoot, van der Schoot, P., J. P. Wittmer +1
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Polymer Surface Interaction Studies #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Surfactants and Colloidal Systems #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/9808175
LATEX, 6 pages, 2 figures
arxiv created 1998/08/17 · openalex publication_date 1998/08/17 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The problem of ring formation in solutions of cylindrical micelles is reinvestigated theoretically, taking into account a finite bending rigidity of the self-assembled linear objects. Transitions between three regimes are found when the scission energy is sufficiently large. At very low densities only spherical and very short, rod-like micelles form. Beyond a critical density, mainly rings but also rod-like chains appear in (virtually) fixed relative amounts. Above a second transition both the length of the linear chains and the relative amount of material taken up by them increase rapidly with increasing concentration. The mass accumulated into long, semi-flexible worms then overwhelms that in rings. The ring-dominated regime is very narrow for semi-flexible chains, confirming that the presence of rings may be difficult to observe in many micellar systems, and indeed disappears completely for sufficiently low scission energy and/or large persistence length.