A computer simulation study on the influence of the critical nucleus on the mechanism of formation of nanoparticles in microemulsions

Abstract

We carried out computer simulations to study the influence of the critical nucleus size on the mechanism of formation of nanoparticles synthetized in microemulsions. One can conclude that nucleation process is strongly affected by the critical nucleus size, but this influence is less pronounced when a flexible surfactant film is used. Final nanoparticle size also depends on critical nucleus, obtaining larger particles as the critical nucleus increases.