Confined bicontinuous microemulsions: nanoscale dynamics of the surfactant film†‡

Abstract

A confined bicontinuous C₁₀E₄–D₂O–n-octane microemulsion is studied using neutron spin echo spectroscopy (NSE). Controlled pore glasses serve as confining matrices with pore diameters ranging from 24 to 112 nm. Firstly, the microemulsion in bulk is investigated by NSE and dynamic light scattering, which allows the determination of the unperturbed collective dynamics as well as the observation of the undulation of the surfactant film. In confinement, it is observed that the collective modes are drastically slowed down in all investigated pore sizes. The undulations of the surfactant film in the largest pores are found to be comparable to those of the bulk and decrease with decreasing pore diameter. Fitting procedures of the intermediate scattering function revealed that the long wavelength undulations are cut off from the spectrum of fluctuation modes due to the interactions with the pore walls.