SANS-measurements on micellar solutions of perfluoro-detergents

Small-angle-neutron-scattering-(SANS)-measurements were carried out with soulutions of Tetramethylam-moniumperfluoroctanesulfonate (TMAFOS) and Diethylammoniumperfluorononanoate (DEAFN) in pure D₂O and in mixtures of D₂O and H₂O. For the TMAFOS-solutions the experimentally observed scattering functions, i.e. the coherent scattering intensity as a function of the scattering angles, could be fitted very well for large scattering angles with the theoretically calculated scattering function for rodlike particles and the dimensions of the rods could be evaluated from these fits. The radius of the rods was independent of the detergent concentration and equal to the double length of a detergent molecule. For small scattering angles the scattering function showed a maximum which was due to nearest neighbour order between the aggregates resulting from the intermicellar interaction. From this maximum a mean distance between the aggregates and hence the lengths L of the rods could be calculated.For the DEAFN-solutions the observed scattering function showed no maximum what clearly indicates the absence of nearest neighbour order between the aggregates. The experimentally observed scattering functions could not be fitted on the basis of rodlike aggregates, but agreed rather well with the theoretically calculated scattering functions for disclike aggregates and also for vesicle-like double layers. The dimensions for the discs could be evaluated from the fits.