Effects of cosolvents cetyltrimethylammonium bromide on the thresholds for nucleation of nitrogen in aqueous solutions

The decomposition of ammonium nitrite in water creates a supersaturated solution of nitrogen. The same process occurs in water-organic solvent mixtures. Acetone, dioxane, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and dimethylformamide (DMF) are the cosolvents used in this study. The limits of supersaturation of nitrogen (C_SL/mol L^–1) were determined in all of these solvent mixtures by releasing the dissolved gas sonicationally and measuring the volume of released gas. C_SL was generally increased in the presence of cosolvents. The effectiveness sequence of organic solvents was found to be as DMFAcetone. Transportation period of small bubbles formed during sonication is changed by compositions of solvent mixtures. These periods may depend on the viscosity of the solution. Effects of the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide were also studied. It was concluded that there may be a relation between the strength of the watercosolvent H-bonds and C_SL and all of the measured quantities of this study were generally affected by micelle formation.