Micelles : A short review

Department of Natural Sciences, West Bengal University of Technology. BF 142, Sector 1, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700 064, India E-mail : akrakshi@yahoo.co. in Manuscript received 19 September 2008, accepted 1 October 2008 Micelles are formed when surfactants arc dissolved in water·. The micelles are clusters of surfactant molecules with definite shapes and sizes. However the shape and size of the micelle arc functions of the nature of the system. It is generally accepted that micelle formation is entropy dominated. There are theories to explain the formation of clusters, their shapes and their sizes. In this short review some of the theories and experimental results are discussed though no attmept has been made for a comprehensive review of the literature