Abstract
In recent years, Janus amphiphilic nanotubes with complex surfaces have been synthesized. However, the self-assembly behaviour of surfactant solutions confined in a Janus amphiphilic nanotube has not been investigated so far. We performed molecular simulations to investigate the morphologies and phase diagrams of a surfactant confined in Janus amphiphilic nanotube consisting of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. We derived a phase diagram of the representative snapshots of equilibrium morphologies. Morphologies that were not observed in the bulk eventuated in confined systems. Moreover, the self-assembled structures were found to be dependent on the spatial confinement. Furthermore, the self-assembled structures confined in hydroneutral and Janus amphiphilic nanotubes were compared. The results suggested that the self-assembled structures confined in the Janus amphiphilic nanotube resembled that confined in the hydroneutral nanotube owing to a strong confinement effect. Further developments in controlling the morphologies and self-assemblies will greatly advance their applications of these materials in nanofluidic devices, or for nanopatterning.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1153-1159 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Molecular Simulation |
Volume | 43 |
Issue number | 13-16 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Confined system
- Dissipative particle dynamics method
- Janus nanotube
- Self-assembly
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- Information Systems
- Modelling and Simulation
- General Chemical Engineering
- General Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics