Micelles, and emulsions are systems of fundamental importance to a wide range of industries including petroleum, food, and pharmaceutical. The need for surface sensitive techniques able to characterize colloids in situ and in a nondestructive way has recently contributed to the development of a new spectroscopic technique called nonlinear light scattering. This technique has already been proven effective in probing properties and processes at the surface of solid colloidal particles in liquid and is, in this contribution, applied to study micelles and emulsions.We have taken advantage of the interface sensitivity, size/shape-selectivity, and time resolution afforded by this technique to gain a fundamental understanding of the factors affecting the stability of emulsions and the formation and destruction of micelles: It is of paramount importance to be able to conduct such study in situ looking directly at the micelle/droplet surface instead of relying on indirect proofs. The effect of the molecular properties of the components, solvent characteristics, and environmental factors, such as pH and ionic strength, in affecting molecular aggregation and kinetics has been investigated and theories have been developed to explain the experimental observations.Acknowledgment is made to the Donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for support of this research.

Nonlinear light scattering from droplets: Development of a versatile probe of aggregation and kinetics

248th National Meeting (2014)

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