Theory for polymer coils with necklaces of micelles

TL;DR

This paper develops a minimal theoretical model for polymer micelle necklaces, predicting how their formation affects surfactant critical micellar concentrations using a 1D fluid analogy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel minimal model for polymer micelle necklaces and links it to thermodynamic predictions of surfactant behavior.

Findings

Two critical micellar concentrations are identified.

The model predicts changes in micelle formation due to polymer presence.

Thermodynamic functions of the model are derived.

Abstract

If many micelles adsorb onto the same polymer molecule then they are said to form a necklace. A minimal model of such a necklace is proposed and shown to be almost equivalent to a 1-dimensional fluid with nearest-neighbour interactions. The thermodynamic functions of this fluid are obtained and then used to predict the change in the critical micellar concentration of the surfactant in the presence of the polymer. If the amount of polymer is not too large there are two critical micellar concentrations, one for micelles in necklaces and one for free micelles.