Characterisation of water-containing reversed micelles by viscosity and dynamic light scattering methods

The size and aggregation number of reversed micelles formed by the system aerosol-OT + H2O + organic solvent have been determined by viscosity and dynamic light scattering methods. For the viscosity method, a procedure for deriving values of the aggregation number from particles of variable density is described. Measurements were made in cyclohexane, toluene and chlorobenzene. The dynamic light scattering method, based on photon correlation spectroscopy, yields single exponential correlation functions from which values of the translational diffusion coefficient and the micelle radius can be derived. The droplet size was found to depend primarily on the ratio of surfactant to water concentrations, but was essentially independent of solvent and concentration at a fixed surfactant to water concentration ratio. Satisfactory agreement was obtained among the two methods discussed in this paper and one (sedimentation ultracentrifugation) described previously.