Self-assembly of surfactants and polymorphic transition in nanotubes.

We study self-assembly and polymorphic transitions of surfactant molecules in water within a nanotube and the effect of water-nanotube interactions on the self-assembly morphologies. We present a simulation evidence of a cornucopia of polymorphic structures of surfactant assemblies--many of which have not been observed in bulk solutions--through adjusting the water-nanotube chemical interactions which range from hydrophilic to hydroneutral and to hydrophobic. The ability to control the morphologies of surfactant assemblies within nanoscale confinement can be used for patterning the interior surface of nanochannels for application in nanofluidics and nanomedical devices.