Systems involving surfactants

TL;DR

This review discusses computer simulation methods for amphiphilic systems, covering various models from atomistic to phenomenological, and highlights their applications and insights across different scales.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of simulation techniques for surfactant systems, integrating diverse models and illustrating their practical applications.

Findings

Multiple modeling approaches enable detailed understanding of surfactant behavior.

Simulations reveal insights into the structure and dynamics of amphiphilic systems.

Hierarchical models facilitate studies across different length and time scales.

Abstract

Computer simulations of amphiphilic systems are reviewed. Research areas cover a wide range of length and time scales, and a whole hierarchy of models and methods has been developed to address them all. They range from atomistically realistic models, idealized chain models, lattice spin models, to phenomenological models such as Ginzburg-Landau models and random interface models. Selected applications are discussed in order to illustrate the use of the models and the insights they can offer.