MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION OF THE FORMATION OF LAYERED STRUCTURES AND MEMBRANES BY AMPHIPHILES

We investigate a Larson-type model of a ternary mixture of nonionic am phiphiles, water and oil confined between walls or forming a membrane by performing Monte Carlo simulations on a cubic lattice. We compute t he concentration profiles of water/oil and the distribution of the amp hiphiles with varying temperatures and distance from a solid wall. For temperatures below the critical temperature for demixing of oil-water and amphiphiles on cubic lattices, we observe an oscillatory pattern in the distribution of the water/oil molecules. We also examine the st ability of membranes both in an extended system and when confined betw een walls. Below the critical demixing temperature, double layer membr anes are stable when there is no oil present. We find that single laye rs are stable only when between walls and if we start with a finite am phiphile concentration away from the membrane. At higher temperatures, rye also observe the development of periodic layered structures for o ne type of amphiphile.