Effect of temperature and dispersed phase content on the behavior of the dielectric constant of ionic microemulsions below the percolation onset

Abstract

A statistical model is developed to describe the dielectric polarization of ionic microemulsions at a region far below percolation in which the microemulsions consist of spherical single droplets with water in the central core surrounded by a layer of surfactant molecules. The model describes the effect of temperature and dispersed phase content on the behavior of the dielectric polarization of ionic water-in-oil microemulsions and explains the experimentally observed increase of the static dielectric permittivity as a function of temperature. The microemulsions formed with the surfactant sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) have been analyzed with the help of this model. It is shown that the droplet polarizability is proportional to the mean-square fluctuation dipole moment of the droplet. The meansquare dipole moment and the corresponding value of the dielectric increment depend on the equilibrium distribution of counterions within a diffuse double layer. The density distribution of ions is determined by the degree of the dissociation of the ionic surfactant. The relationship between the dielectric permittivity, the constant of dissociation, the content of the dispersed phase and the temperature has been ascertained.