Summary: Published: December 15, 2010
r 2010 American Chemical Society 7268 dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp1073335 |J. Phys. Chem. B 2011, 115, 7268­7280
ARTICLE
pubs.acs.org/JPCB
Kinetics of Surfactant Micellization: A Free Energy Approach
Radina Hadgiivanova,
Haim Diamant,*,
and David Andelman

Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Chemistry and
Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv
University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
ABSTRACT: We present a new theoretical approach to the
kinetics of micelle formation in surfactant solutions, in which
the various stages of aggregation are treated as constrained
paths on a single free-energy landscape. Three stages of well-
separated time scales are distinguished. The first and longest
stage involves homogeneous nucleation of micelles, for which
we derive the size of the critical nuclei, their concentration,
and the nucleation rate. Subsequently, a much faster growth

Source: Andelman, David - School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University

Collections: Materials Science; Physics