ANOMALOUS PHASE-SEPARATION KINETICS OBSERVED IN A MICELLE SOLUTION

We report a real-time, two-dimensional light scattering study of the evolution of structure in a two-component nonionic micelle system undergoing phase separation. We find that the structure of the domains is qualitatively similar to that observed in binary fluid systems, with some anomalies observed. However, compared to the Lifshitz-Slyozov prediction for simple binary fluids, the domain growth is unexpectedly slow. In fact, the growth kinetics can be empirically described as a stretched exponential approach to a pinned domain size. This anomalous behavior may be due to the ability of the spherical micelles to reorganize into more complex structures.