Simulating surfactant self-assembly

This paper briefly reviews simulations of a simple model oil/water/surfactant system. The model describes only the most characteristic elements of oil/water/surfactant mixtures: oil and water do not mix, and a surfactant is an amphiphilic molecule; one side of the molecule likes oil more than water, and the other side likes water more than oil. Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on this simple model to study the effects of surfactant chain length on the oil/water interfacial tension, the relation between micellar shape and surfactant structure, and the solubilization of an oil droplet in an aqueous micellar solution.