title: Temperature dependence of the surfactant film bending elasticity in a bicontinuous sugar surfactant based microemulsion: a quasielastic scattering study.
abstract: Currently, the design of microemulsions is focussed on the formulation of environmentally compatible systems formed by non-harmful amphiphiles and oils. The use of sugar-based surfactants allows the design of microemulsions where, instead of the temperature, the addition of short- or medium-chain alcohols tunes the curvature of the amphiphilic interface. In this work, the resulting temperature stability of a sugar surfactant and rapeseed methyl ester based bicontinuous microemulsion is exploited to study the influence of temperature variations on the bending elastic constant κ. Quasi-elastic scattering of light and neutrons is used to separate long-range collective motions and local thermally excited undulations of the interface. κ in units of kT is found to be independent of temperature over a wide range.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Chemie, Technische Universität Berlin, Strasse des 17.Juni 124, D-10623 Berlin, Germany. s.wellert@tu-berlin.de
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wellert
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karg
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Holderer
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Richardt
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hellweg
mesh_terms: D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D004548:Elasticity; D004655:Emulsions / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D053838:Scattering, Small Angle; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D004655:Emulsions; D013501:Surface-Active Agents