Perturbations of microemulsion droplets by confinement and adsorption of polymer

(Received 29 July 1994, received in final form 30 September 1994, accepted 5 October 1994)

Abstract
We perturb the structure of dilute microemulsion droplets by confining polymer chains inside the droplets and by adsorbing polymer on the surfactant shells from the outer phase. We observe the local structure changes by small-angle neutron scattering. The curvature fluctuations and the size distribution of the droplets increase in both cases by different possible mechanisms, an induced size polydispersity minimizing osmotic stresses in the first case, a lowering of the film rigidity in the second one. The polymer adsorption is observed by measuring the polymer-droplet cross-structure factor.