Structural and dynamical transformations between neighboring dense microemulsion phases

Abstract

A small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) study of dense AOT-water-decane microemulsions [AOT denotes sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate] was undertaken in order to delineate clearly the phase behavior and corresponding structural transitions for AOT-plus-water volume fractions ranging from φ=0.60 to 0.95. Spectra were collected for temperatures between T=3 and 65 °C. The resulting T-vs-φ phase diagram indicates three distinct structural domains when the water-to-AOT molar ratio is fixed at W=40.8, namely, the previously investigated L2 droplet phase, a high-temperature Lα lamellar phase, and a low-temperature L3 phase consisting of randomly connected lamellar sheets. A significantly wide coexistence region accompanies the droplet-to-lamellar phase transition, which is demonstrated to be first order. For W between 15 and 40, an analysis of the lamellar structure using a one-dimensional paracrystal model produces a Hosemann g factor indicative of an approximately constant variation in the lamellar spacing of about 8%. The SAXS study was supplemented by dielectric-relaxation, shear-viscosity, and quasielastic light-scattering measurements in order to substantiate the observed phase transitions and further our understanding of the structural and dynamical properties of the L3 phase. It was found that the L3 phase exhibits Newtonian behavior up to a shear rate of 790 s-1, in contradiction to previous theoretical considerations. The phase exhibits two distinct relaxation modes. A relaxation time of ~1 ms characterizes the Brownian motion of a single lamellar sheet, while the motion of the entire interconnected sheet assembly has a relaxation time on the order of 1 s (Refer to PDF file for exact formulas).