Structure and Design of Abnormally Long Thread-Like Micelles and Their Relation to Vesicles and Liquid Crystals

It is fascinating to see the drastic changes in the flow characteristics when one adds a small amount of sodium salicylate (SS) to a dilute solution of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). The viscosity of CTAB solution, which is approximately that of water ~ 1 cP, increases drastically by orders of magnitude on addition of SS and the solution, more interestingly, shows elastic properties. An optimized demonstration has been prescribed by Hoffmann and Ebert (1).