Abstract
Surfactant micelles form oriented arrays on crystalline substrates although registration is unexpected since the template unit cell is small compared to the size of a rodlike micelle. Interaction energy calculations based on molecular simulations reveal that orientational energy differences on a molecular scale are too small to explain matters. With atomic force microscopy, we show that orientational ordering is a dynamic, multimolecule process. Treating the cooperative processes as a balance between van derâ Waals torque on a large, rodlike micellar assembly and Brownian motion shows that orientation is favored.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 018301 |
Journal | Physical review letters |
Volume | 96 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 13 2006 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Physics and Astronomy