Light scattering study of attractive interactions in a model microemulsion system

Static and dynamic (photon correlation spectroscopy) light scattering studies were conducted on AOT/WATER/n- DECANE microemulsions near room temperature. The molar ratio of water to AOT was varied from W = 20 to 30. The volume fractions of the studied microemulsions ranged from $ = 0.03 to 0.45. Static light scattering data was modeled by a theory based on attractive perturbations to hard spheres. From the model, values for A, the attractive perturbation to the second virial coefficient, were determined. It was found that A is an increasing function of W. Photon correlation spectra were analyzed in terms of an adhesive sphere model to produce corresponding values of A, which were compared to the statically determined A-values. The two methods produced A values that were not in agreement within experimental error, however the methods independently had reasonable agreement between theory and experiment