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Prediction of an autocatalytic replication mechanism for micelle formation
1van't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 WV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
We report molecular simulations suggesting that the kinetics of surfactant micelle formation can be sped up significantly by a replication mechanism, in which growing micelles become unstable and split into two similar sized micelles. We argue that for certain surfactants types around the critical micelle concentration, such a mechanism becomes more dominant than the commonly accepted nucleation pathway.
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