Microemulsion model with oil-water anisotropy

Abstract

We consider a spin model for applications to oil-water -amphiphilic-surfactant mixtures near the region where those phases coexist. We analyze this model assuming that oil and water molecules cannot be treated symmetrically, given that they do exhibit different chemical potentials. Using a mean-field approximation, we find that the modulated phase assumes two possible arrangements, such as sheets (lamellar phase) or rods (hexagonal phase). Due to fluctuations, the lamellar phase is present when the difference between the chemical potential of oil

Monte Carlo Simulations of Interfaces in Polymer Blends

“…Recent experiments by Bates et al [10] found experimental evidence for a bicontinuous polymeric microemulsion in an asymmetric homopolymer copolymer mixture in a region where the self-consistent field theory predicts an isotropic Lifshitz point. In fact, the experimental phase diagram of the copolymer homopolymer mixture closely resembles the phase diagram of small molecule mixtures of oil, water and amphiphiles [127].…”