Viscoelastic wormlike micellar solutions made from nonionic surfactants: structural investigations by SANS and DLS

A highly viscoelastic micellar solution of nonionic surfactants in a dilute region was recently reported. A transient network of wormlike micelles formed with the addition of short-EO-chain poly(oxyethylene) dodecyl ether surfactants (C12EO(j), j = 1-4) to poly(oxyethylene) cholesteryl ethers (ChEO(m), m = 10 and 15). A gradual increase in micellar length with an increasing C12EO(j) concentration was assumed from the results of model calculations and rheological measurements. We report in this study the results of structural investigations with small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) to confirm this assumption. Tuning from spherical to wormlike and to locally flat structures can be achieved by way of three methods. One can either increase the C12EO(j) concentration or decrease j (smaller headgroup size) at a fixed concentration of C12EO(j). The third possibility is to increase the temperature at a fixed composition. All three methods result in the same structural transition. The formation of a transient network of wormlike micelles analogous to polymer solutions can be observed with dynamic light scattering (DLS). A stretched exponential approach was applied to fit the correlation functions.