화학공학소재연구정보센터
Langmuir, Vol.15, No.6, 1966-1972, 1999
Thermodynamic modeling of the L-3 (sponge) phase with electrostatic contribution to the bending energy in a ternary system (Aerosol OT/NaCl/water)
The L-3 (sponge) phase is a disordered fluid membrane phase where an infinite topologically complex bilayer separates the solvent into two separate domains. In this work we have extended a previous description of the phase equilibria in terms of the flexible surface model to also account for the concentration-dependent electrostatic interactions. We consider a ternary system surfactant/salt/water where all components are explicitly described. The contributions to the free energy are separated into an electrostatic and a nonelectrostatic part, and we calculate the phase equlibria modeling in addition to the sponge phase also the lamellar phase and an isotropic solution, L-1, dilute in surfactant. The theoretical results have been compared with experimental data for the Aerosol OT/NaCl/water system. The model captures most of the typical features of the experimental phase diagram: the narrowness of the sponge one phase region, the characteristic sequences of phases, and the variation in the electrolyte concentration of the L-1 solution in equilibrium with, the L-3 phase. There is a discrepancy between theory and experiment with respect to the width of the two phase area separating the sponge and lamellar phases.