Amphiphilic aggregation at solid-liquid interfaces can generate mesostructured micelles that can serve as soft templates. In this study we have simulated the self-assembly of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (C16TAC) surfactants at the Si(100)- and Si(111)-aqueous interfaces. The surfactants are found to form semicylindrical micelles on Si(100) but hemispherical micelles on Si(111). This difference in micelle structure is shown to be a consequence of the starkly different surface topographies that result from the reconstruction of the two silicon surfaces. This reveals that micelle structure can be governed by epitaxial matching even with non-polar substrates.
Revised: June 25, 2015 |
Published: February 11, 2015
Citation
Darkins R., M.L. Sushko, J. Liu, and D.M. Duffy. 2015.The effect of surface topography on the micellisation of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride at the silicon-aqueous interface.Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 27, no. 5:Article No. 054008.PNNL-SA-105542.doi:10.1088/0953-8984/27/5/054008