Multifractality of lyotropic liquid crystal formation of aluminium dodecylbenzenesulphonate

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Abstract
The formation of colloidal and liquid crystalline aggregates of aluminium dodecylbenzenesulphonate caused by mixing aqueous solutions of A1(NO3)3 and dodecylbenzenesulphonic acid (HDBS) was investigated by light scattering and polarizing microscopy. Applying a fractal approach, some aggregates can be considered as multifractals and some as fractals, depending on the slopes of the ‘lgl(Q) versus lg Q’ plots (for multifractals the slopes are > 3). A model of multiscaling for the calculation of fractal dimensions in the formation of the liquid crystalline phases is proposed, describing both the spacial and the temporal dependence of amphiphile self-aggregation. The basic symmetries of the dynamics of formation and the structures of the liquid crystalline phases were found to be consistent.