title: Rheological characterizations and molecular dynamics simulations of self-assembly in an anionic/cationic surfactant mixture.
abstract: The formation of self-assemblies in mixed amino acid-based anionic N-hexadecanoylglutamic acid (HGA) and cationic benzyldimethyl hexadecylammonium chloride (HDBAC) surfactants in aqueous solutions has been characterized. With rheological analysis, the viscoelastic properties of the mixed system are found to be completely dependent on the concentration of HDBAC. Molecular dynamics simulation results suggest that the morphology of self-assembly can be regulated from spherical micelles to wormlike micelles by the addition of HDBAC. The aromatic group of HDBAC adsorption provides a "charge-neutral" function to the micelle corona; the repulsive interactions within the head group of HGA are progressively screened and closely packed. In addition, the dynamic processes and formation mechanisms of self-assembly were analyzed in detail with molecular simulation techniques.
authors.affiliation: School of Petroleum Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, Shandong 266580, P. R. China. daicl@upc.edu.cn zhaomingwei@upc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhihu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: School of Petroleum Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, Shandong 266580, P. R. China. daicl@upc.edu.cn zhaomingwei@upc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Caili
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: School of Petroleum Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, Shandong 266580, P. R. China. daicl@upc.edu.cn zhaomingwei@upc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Mingwei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: School of Petroleum Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, Shandong 266580, P. R. China. daicl@upc.edu.cn zhaomingwei@upc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yongpeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun