TEM investigations of self-assembly through physical synthesis

Abstract

A novel way of enlarging the realm of surfactant solution microstructure is the "physical synthesis" of new microstructures and surfactant-templated materials by mixing simple surfactants or surfactant and inorganic and ionic species. Mixing can often produce properties not possessed by any one species alone. As we have recently shown, mixtures of single-tailed cationic and anionic surfactants associate in solution to form a quasi-double-tailed catanionic surfactant that forms bilayers rather than the simple micelles each species would form on its own. Mixed surfactant systems apparently produce new microstructures by altering the intermolecular and interaggregate forces in ways impossible for single component systems. In addition to spontaneous vesicles, we have found other new microstructures including dilute lamellar and L3 phases depending on the details of the surfactant mixture. Surfactant interactions with ionic species also play an important role in the in synthesis of a new M41S family of mesoporous silicas, and are likely to be important in the templating of biominerals at interfaces. By understanding the molecular and chemical basis of these interactions, we can begin to tailor new microstructured and/or biomimetic materials by controlling surfactant aggregation and phase behavior through physical synthesis rather than through much more elaborate chemical synthesis.