Inverse micelles as charge carriers in nonpolar liquids: Characterization with current measurements

Despite the increasing importance of charges in nonpolar liquids for practical applications and fundamental research, their origin, nature and behavior are not yet completely understood. The most widely (but not generally) accepted view is that in mixtures of a nonpolar liquid with surfactant, inverse micelles act as charge carriers. A lot of research is still needed to support this view, and to gain a fundamental understanding of the electrical properties of inverse micellar solutions. In this article, we discuss transient current measurements as a valuable technique for the characterization of charged inverse micelles in nonpolar liquids, and we illustrate how they can be used to study a large number of properties, such as the concentration of both neutral and charged inverse micelles, their mobility, size, aggregation number and valency, and their behavior and generation in the bulk and at surfaces.