Study of water solubilized in AOT/n-decane/water microemulsions

The state of water in AOT-n-decane-water microemulsions has been studied by using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The existence of three kinds of water, which correspond to water populations with different degrees of organization, has been observed. Densities of these microemulsions have been measured. From these studies (FT-IR and densities), the apparent molar volumes of the different types of water molecules have been estimated. These apparent molar volumes, as well as their variations with respect to the composition of the microemulsion, depend on the type of water. The volume of the water bound to the ionic heads of the surfactant is lower than that for bulk water and shows a slight dependence on the molar ratio W. In contrast, no dependence on W is found for the volume of water trapped between the tails of the surfactant.