Interfacial molecular array behaviors of mixed surfactant systems based on sodium laurylglutamate and the effect on the foam properties

The foam properties of mixtures of an eco-friendly amino-acid derived surfactant sodium lauroylglutamate (LGS) interacting with cationic surfactant dodecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (DTAB), nonionic surfactant laurel alkanolamide (LAA) and anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS), were investigated, respectively. It was amazing that the three investigated binary-mixed systems all showed obviously synergism effect on foaming, though LGS/DTAB catanionic mixture showed remarkable synergistic effect with no surprise. The equilibrium and dynamic surface activity, along with the interfacial molecular array behaviors of binary-mixed systems with different molar ratios at air/water surface were also studied. Moreover, the theoretical simulation was employed to investigate how the interfacial behaviors of surfactants at air/water surface affected the foam properties. The study might provide the meaningful guidance for utilizing the LGS-based systems, especially in constructing eco-friendly foam systems in the application areas of cosmetics, medicine and detergent.