The effects of surfactant and oil chemical structures on self-assembly in apolar media

Abstract

The thermodynamic and chemical structural aspects of surfactant self-assembly in aqueous systems have been much studied. On the other hand, for oil–water interfaces the effects of chemical structures of surfactants and solvents have received less attention. This review focuses on the surfactant chemical effects in low dielectric solvents, in particular formation and properties of surfactant films at oil–water interfaces. For this purpose, reversed micelles (RMs) and water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsions (μEs) serve as model systems, since electrostatic effects are minimized, allowing a focus on chain architecture of the surfactants and oil solvents themselves. It is noted that chemical structure can have profound effects on stability and self-assembly, suggesting a possibility of identifying unified chemical principles for designing and formulating systems across various thermodynamic conditions.