Extension of the Inverse “Dry” Micelles Model to Disk-Shaped Aggregates

This paper presents a molecular thermodynamic model of formation and growth of nonionic aggregates from surfactant molecules in a nonpolar solvent in the absence of water, which allows fluctuating coexistence of micelles of different shapes without activation barriers between them. The work of micelle aggregation is derived for CE in heptane using molecular dynamics data. In the considered model, for any aggregation numbers, the minimum aggregation work depends not only on aggregation numbers and surfactant monomer concentration, but also on two independent shape parameters characterizing the deviation from the spherical shape of the aggregate. This approach provides a common description for both disk and cylindrical micelles.