Interaction between anionic and cationic gemini surfactants at air/water interface and in aqueous bulk solution

The mixture of the anionic O,O′-bis(sodium 2-lauricate)-p-benzenediol (C₁₁pPHCNa) and cationic (oligoona)alkanediyl-α, ω-bis(dimethyldodecylammonium bromide) (C₁₂-2-E_x-C₁₂·2Br) gemini surfactants has been investigated by surface tension and pyrene fluorescence. The results show that the surface tension γ drops faster with total surfactant concentration C_T for α₁ = 0.1 or 0.3 than for α₁ = 0.7 or 0.9, where α₁ is the mole fraction of C₁₁pPHCNa in the bulk solution on a surfactant-only basis. The fast drop in γ for α₁ < 0.5 indicates strong adsorption at the air/water interface owing to the interaction between oppositely charged components, resulting in the formation of the adsorption double layers in the subsurface. The slow descent in γ for α₁ > 0.5 is attributed to the pre-aggregation in the solution before the critical micelle concentration cmc. A possible mechanism is proposed.