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Spontaneous self-assembly and structure of perfluoroalkylalkane surfactant hemimicelles by molecular dynamics
Gonçalo M C Silva1, Pedro Morgado1, Pedro Lourenço1,2
1Centro de Química Estrutural, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal.
Abstract:
Fully atomistic molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of perfluoroalkylalkane molecules at the surface of water show the spontaneous formation of aggregates whose size and topography closely resemble the experimentally observed hemimicelles for this system. Furthermore, the grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) pattern calculated from the simulation trajectories reproduces the experimental GIXD spectra previously obtained, fully validating the MD simulation results. The detailed analysis of the internal structure of the aggregates obtained by the MD simulations supports a definite rational explanation for the spontaneous formation, stability, size, and shape of perfluoroalkylalkane hemimicelles at the surface of water.
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