A 36 m SANS BATAN spectrometer (SMARTer): Probing n-dodecyl-β-d-maltoside micelles structures by a contrast variation

The performance of a 36 m small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) BATAN spectrometer (SMARTer) in Serpong, Indonesia, was explored in investigating a micelle structure by a contrast variation technique, changing the H2O/D2O ratio as aqueous solution. Micellar solution of n-dodecyl-beta-d-maltoside was chosen for its sensitivity in various concentrations of 0% D2O, 50% D2O and 100% D2O to reveal the detail structures of the micelle. At first, a spherical lognormal model calculation was employed and fitted on the experimental data to obtain the size range of the micelle. The refinement of the micelle structure was then completed using an oblate-core shell ellipsoid model calculation. The results show that the micelle is composed of 4-9 angstrom thick disaccharides group as a shell or corona layer, while over all the oblate ellipsoid micelle structure has major-axis and minor-axis of 34 and 18 angstrom, respectively. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.