The effect of surface topography on the micellisation of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride at the silicon-aqueous interface

Journal Article · Wed Feb 11 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 27(5):Article No. 054008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/27/5/054008· OSTI ID:1188874

Darkins, Robert; Sushko, Maria L.; Liu, Jun; Duffy, Dorothy M.

Amphiphilic aggregation at solid-liquid interfaces can generate mesostructured micelles that can serve as soft templates. In this study we have simulated the self-assembly of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (C16TAC) surfactants at the Si(100)- and Si(111)-aqueous interfaces. The surfactants are found to form semicylindrical micelles on Si(100) but hemispherical micelles on Si(111). This difference in micelle structure is shown to be a consequence of the starkly different surface topographies that result from the reconstruction of the two silicon surfaces. This reveals that micelle structure can be governed by epitaxial matching even with non-polar substrates.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1188874
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-105542; KC0203020
• Journal Information: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 27(5):Article No. 054008, Journal Name: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 27(5):Article No. 054008
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

self-assembly
CTAC
silicon
micelle
topography