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Summary: Progress in Colloid & Polymer Science Progr Colloid Polym Sci 84:3--7 (1991)
Spontaneous vesicle formation by mixed surfactants
S. A. Safranl'4), E C. MacKintosh1), P. A. Pincus2), and D. A. Andelman3)
1) Exxon Research and Engineering, Annandale, New Jersey, USA
2) Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA
3) Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University,
Ramat Aviv, Israel
4) Polymer Dept., Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel
Abstract: Although single surfactants rarely form vesicles spontaneously,
mixtures of two surfactants can lead to spontaneous vesicle formation. By
considering the curvature elasticity of the surfactant bilayer, we show
theoretically how the energetic stabilization of mixed vesicles can occur. In-
teractions between the two species (of the proper sign and magnitude) are
crucial to stabilizing these vesicles. These interactions lead to composition
asymmetries and effective spontaneous curvatures of the inner and outer
layers that are of equal and opposite signs.
Key words:_Vesicle;surfactant; selfassociation
I. Introduction
Since vesicles rarely form as the equilibrium
structure of simple surfactant-water systems, non-
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