Microscopic Investigation on Morphologies of Bilayer Gel Structure in the Mixed Polyoxyethylene-Type Nonionic Surfactant Systems

We investigated morphologies of lamellar domains below the Krafft temperature in the mixed polyoxyethylene-type nonionic surfactant, a C16E6/C16E7/water system, by using optical microscopy, confocal microscopy, small/wide-angle X-ray scattering, and small-angle neutron scattering. We have found that the morphology discontinuously changes from network structures of lamellar domains to spherical vesicles with increasing mole fraction of C16E7, via the coexistence region of vesicles and network structures of lamellar domains.