Dissipative particle dynamics simulations reveal the pH-driven micellar transition pathway of monorhamnolipids

Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation has been used to study the effect of pH on the morphology transition of micelles assembled by monorhamnolipids (monoRLs). Results show that micellar structures and transition modes with increasing mass concentrations are multiform due to the changeable hydrophilicity of pH-responsive beads at different pH levels. Various chaotic multilayer aggregations of monoRLs are observed at low pH (pH<4.0) whereas well-ordered single-layer structures are obtained at high pH (pH>7.4). At medium pH region (4.0