Interfacial Behavior of Aqueous Solutions of Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTAB), Additives and Their Mixtures: The Experimental and Modeling Study

Abstract

In the present investigation, firstly, the surface tension measurements were conducted for aqueous solutions of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, acetonitrile, and tetrahydrofuran by using a pendant drop apparatus at the temperature of 298.15 K and ambient pressure. Then a thermodynamic model was used and successfully reproduced the surface tension values. The percent of the average absolute deviation for surface tension was 0.667. The surface tensions of mixed aqueous solutions of (cetyltrimethylammonium+additives) were measured at various concentrations. Then, the values of critical micelle concentrations were measured based on surface tension and conductivity. The percent of the average absolute deviation of the thermodynamic model was 5.05, proving that the model successfully predicts the surface tension for aqueous mixed solutions of (cetyltrimethylammonium+additives). The presence of additives decreases the surface coverage of cetyltrimethylammonium and increases the critical micelle concentration values.