Functional Langevin models for the mesoscopic dynamics of surfactant aggregation in solution

Abstract

We discuss a time-dependent potential model for the simulation of surfactant aggregation in solution. The numerical model is derived from a generalization of time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory for conserved order parameters. An element in our coarse-grained approach is that we retain important aspects of molecular detail by inclusion of single-chain density functionals. Representative results of simulations of concentrated dioctadecylamine solutions are discussed. We find that multicomponent coarse-grained simulations are indeed feasible, and may increase our understanding of a wide variety of mesoscopic aggregation processes in complex surfactant solutions. A conspicuous result is that thermal fluctuations greatly influence the formation of the aggregate structures. © 1996 The American Physical Society.