SOLID-STATE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE STRUCTURE OF ROD-LIKE MICELLES AND THEIR MIXTURES WITH ASSOCIATING POLYMERS

The supermolecular structure or morphology of a series of solid state films of colloidal rod-like micelles, covering a range of hydrophobic activity, i.e. methylene chain length, was studied by small angle light scattering (SALS) complemented by polarized light microscopy. The SALS results on the colloidal rod-like micelles parallel those formed in rod-like polymers. A comparison with theoretical calculations shows that the individualized rod-like structures in solution aggregate into a supermolecular rod-like structure which is preserved in the concentrating process. The experimentally observed anisotropic patterns are discussed in terms of scattering models and are related to the way in which the rod-like entities are oriented in the supermolecular rod-like morphology. The analysis is extended to include intimate mixtures of colloidal rod-like micelles and hydrophobically (and nonhydrophobically) associating water soluble copolymers.