Volumetric Studies on Aqueous Solutions of Dodecyltrimethylammonium Bromide and 1-Dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium Bromide

The densities of aqueous solutions of mixed surfactants of dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide and 1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (DTAB/C₁₂mimBr) were measured at various compositions. The concentration dependent apparent molar volumes of these mixed surfactants were calculated and used to deduce the critical micelle concentrations (cmc) and the apparent molar volumes in the micelles and the continuous phase. The one-parameter Margules equation was applied to correlate the composition dependent cmc values and to obtain the activity coefficients and mole fractions of these surfactants in the mixed micelles, which were further used to calculate the excess Gibbs energies and the excess volumes. It was found that the excess Gibbs energies and the excess volumes of the mixed micelles are all negative, indicating that these mixed micelles are more stable and packed more tightly than their corresponding pure micelles.