Interfacial and aggregation properties of some anionic/cationic surfactant binary systems II. Mixed micelle formation and surface tension reduction effectiveness

Mixed micelle formation and surface tension reduction effectiveness (γ_cmc) were investigated for the following systems: triethanolammonium dodecylpoly(oxyethylene)sulfate (TADPS, containing about two ethylene oxide units)/dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide, TADPS/hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide and TADPS/hexadecylpyridinium chloride. For all these anionic/cationic systems, the mixed critical micelle concentration (cmc) values reflect a strong synergism in mixed micelle formation, with β^M values ranging from −13.8 to −18.3. The mixed micelle composition is mixing-ratio dependent and, for equimolar mixtures, the mixed micelle is richer in the surfactant with the lower cmc. Precipitation is inhibited to a certain extent, thanks to the presence of ethylene oxide groups in the anionic species. The conditions for synergism in γ_cmc, differently expressed in the literature, can be derived from the surface tension equations established in our previous article. They can be conveniently described by a few characteristic constants: Γ _i ^∞ (saturated Gibbs excess), K _i (constant in the Szyszkowski equation), the cmc of the individual surfactants and the interaction parameters, β^S and β^M, of their mixtures. Excellent agreement between theoretically predicted and experimental results is obtained. With the increase in surfactant chain length, the β^M values decrease faster than the β^S ones and this can result in the loss of synergism in γ_cmc. Received: 11 June 2000 Accepted: 4 September 2000     

Mixed adsorption and surface tension prediction of nonideal ternary surfactant systems

To deal with the mixed adsorption of nonideal ternary surfactant systems, the regular solution approximation for nonideal binary surfactant systems is extended and a pseudo-binary system treatment is also proposed. With both treatments, the compositions of the mixed monolayer and the solution concentrations required to produce given surface tensions can be predicted based only on the -LogC curves of individual surfactants and the pair interaction parameters. Conversely, the surface tensions of solutions with different bulk compositions can be predicted by the surface tension equations for mixed surfactant systems. Two ternary systems: SDS/Hyamine 1622/AEO₇, composed of homogeneous surfactants, and AES/DPCl/AEO₉, composed of commercial surfactants, in the presence of excess NaCl, are examined for the applicability of the two treatments. The results show that, in general, the pseudo-binary system treatment gives better prediction than the extended regular solution approximation, and the applicability of the latter to typical anionic/cationic/nonionic nonideal ternary surfactant systems seems to depend on the combined interaction parameter, : the more it deviates from zero, the larger the prediction difference. If 0, good agreements between predicted and experimental results can be obtained and both treatments, though differently derived, are interrelated and tend to be equivalent.Poster presentation at the 14th SIS conference, June 2002, Barcelona