Spontaneous self-assembly process for threadlike micelles

More than 100 mu s dissipative particle dynamics simulations were carried out to investigate the spontaneous formation process of threadlike micelles from the random configuration for surfactant molecules. Stable spherical micelles were formed during the earlier stage. These spherical micelles fused to each other and grew into rodlike and threadlike micelles during the later stage. The length and radius of a micelle were estimated by tracing the backbone positions and the distance between the head group particles and the backbone of the micelles, respectively. The ratio of the largest to the smallest principal moments of inertia for each micelle was calculated as the micelle shape. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.