Effect Of A Water-soluble Polymer On Lamellar Surfactant Phases

We study the effect of a water-soluble polymer, PEG, on the lamellar phases of different surfactants (non-ionic and ionic). Different experimental techniques (Polarized Light Microscopy, Freeze-Fracture Electron Microscopy, Small-Angle X Ray Scattering, Dynamic Light Scattering, Rheology) show that the polymer strongly affects the structural and physical properties of the membranes. In some cases, the polymer induces a phase of highly packed multilamellar vesicles. We present the effect of polymer concentration and polymer molecular weight.