2014 Volume 24 Issue 4 Pages 244-249
Motion of an oil-water interface induced by the formation of surfactant aggregates is reported. An oil-water system that generates surfactant aggregates at the oil-water interface is constructed with biomimetic motivation. We applied a system composed of ionic surfactant, co-surfactant and water, which is known to generate lamellar structure with low surfactant ratio (~ a few wt.%). In our system, a cationic surfactant is dissolved in water, whereas co-surfactant is dissolved in hydrocarbon solvent. Setting the oil and the water in contact with each other, the aggregates were formed at the oil-water interface. Accompanied with the generation of surfactant aggregates, the oil-water interface showed extension and retraction of circular extrude within a quasi 2-dimensional cell. Furthermore, the aggregates formed pillar-like structure due to the interfacial motion. By in situ measurement with small angle X-ray scattering and small angle neutron scattering, we revealed the aggregates have the lamellar structure where their interlayer distance was 28 nm to 30 nm. The internal structure of the aggregate pillar is also revealed. SANS measurement further revealed that the aggregates do not contain large amount of the organic solvent.
