Eur. Phys. J. E (2008) 27: 261-273
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2008-10379-2

Regular Article

On the concentration-induced growth of nonionic wormlike micelles

¹ Physical Chemistry 1, Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O.Box 124, SE-22100, Lund, Sweden
² Department of Chemistry, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minamiohsawa, Hachioji, 192-0397, Tokyo, Japan

^* e-mail: Sanja.Bulut@fkem1.lu.se

Received: 18 March 2008
Revised: 9 September 2008
Published online: 30 October 2008

Abstract

We present a comprehensive study of the concentration-induced growth of nonionic wormlike micelles in dilute solutions, below the overlap concentration, where we combine static and dynamic light scattering and NMR self-diffusion. The data are analyzed in detail in terms of the number-averaged contour length, assuming an exponential size distribution, as predicted by theory, and that the micellar flexibility can be described by the wormlike chain model with a certain persistence length. A very good agreement between the different experimental methods is obtained. The number-averaged contour length increases with increasing micelle volume fraction. The data are consistent with a power law, where the power law exponent is in the range 0.5-0.8, depending on the system. The result is in reasonable agreement with the theory of living polymers.