Revealing sol–gel type main effects by exploring a molecular cluster behavior in model in-plane amphiphilic aggregations

N. Kruszewska and A. Gadomski

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2010, vol. 389, issue 16, 3053-3068

Abstract: In-plane (bio)matter aggregations of amphiphilic nature are modeled extensively by Monte Carlo simulation in their natural entropic contexts. The modeling starts by designing the aggregations at a molecular level, pointing to its well-known configuration vs conformation character. Then, the conformational behavior is distributed over the aggregations obtained, with the aim of revealing their main sol–gel type (viscoelastic) effects. The passage between the resulting sol and gel phases is not controlled by a scan in the temperature domain, on the contrary, the control parameter is selected to be the hydrophobic-interaction strength while the temperature remains unchanged. The distribution of ordered fringed micelles, and the overall crystalline inclusions of the gel phase, suggested a first-order phase change, reasonably conceivable in terms of Avrami–Kolmogorov formalism for such hydrophobic-force driven and percolation-in-nature systems. A phase transition diagram has been presented as a novel proposition to discern between sol vs gel phases. As specific results, also of high experimental value, a damped-oscillating cluster-involving effect on the resulting hydrophobic-polar matrices has been detected and analysed. Other additional intermolecular-sharing entropy-influenced effects on clustering, as seen in terms of chain-to-chain connectivities, have been addressed as being of sufficient relevance to the gelation mechanism described. The microcrystalline inclusions downgrade to some extent the overall picture of entropy-affected gelation, being all together suitable for experimental check-out.

Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation; Sol–gel phase transition; Hydrophobic forces; (Bio)polymer aggregation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437110003316
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:389:y:2010:i:16:p:3053-3068

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2010.04.012

Access Statistics for this article

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications is currently edited by K. A. Dawson, J. O. Indekeu, H.E. Stanley and C. Tsallis

More articles in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().