| Abstract: | The effect of ethanol (C2H5OH), propanol (C3H7OH), and butanol (C4H9OH) upon the viscosity of tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) solution in the presence or absence of KBr at 30 o C was investigated, where the surfactant concentration CS is kept constant. In the absence of KBr, the relative viscosity ηr of TTAB solution increases linearly with the alcohol concentration CA, indicating that the alcohols do not promote micelle formation of TTAB. In the presence of KBr, ′r linearly decreases with CA for C2H5OH, but it exhibits a maximum with increasing CA for C3H7OH or C4H9OH. The facts reveal that C2H5OH or C4H9OH promotes the micelle formation of TTAB. A possible explanation is that the hydrophobicity of the micellar interior is enhanced by KBr, so that C2H5OH or C4H9OH can dissolve in micelle and promotes micelle formation. In the presence of KCl, which is less efficient in promoting the micelle formation of cationic surfactant, both C3H7OH and C4H9OH have only a slight effect on the micelle formation. In contrast, due to the hydrophilicity, C2H5OH cannot dissolve in micelles in the presence of KBr or KCl. |
