Mixed Monolayer and Micelle Formation of Cationic and Zwitterionic Surfactant of Identical Hydrocarbon Tail in an Aqueous Medium: Interfacial Tension, Fluorescence Probe, Dynamic Light Scattering, and Viscosity Studies

Abstract

We have studied the properties of the mixed monolayers and the mixed micelles formed from the mixture of the cationic surfactant dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and the zwitterionic surfactant dimethyldodecylammoniopropanesulfonate (DPS), that have the identical hydrocarbon tail but different polar head groups, by measuring interfacial tension, fluorescence, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and viscosity. From the results of interfacial tension measurements, the various interfacial and bulk parameters such as the maximum surface excess, the surface pressure at the critical micellar concentration, and the standard free energies of interfacial adsorption and of micellization have been evaluated. The deviation from the ideal of the mixed micelles has been discussed on the basis of Clint theory. The interaction parameters in the mixed micelles and in the mixed monolayers, and also the compositions of the mixed micelles and the mixed monolayers were obtained with the help of regular solution theory. From a static fluorescence quenching method, the mean micellar aggregation number of pure and mixed micelles was obtained. Microviscosity in the pure and mixed micelles was monitored by fluorescence polarization measurements using Rhodamine B (RB) as a fluorescence probe. The hydrodynamic radii of the micelles were obtained in the mixtures at different mole fractions of surfactant from DLS measurements. The change of viscosity with α of DTAB revealed a minimum, and it was shifted to a higher αvalue in the mixture of high concentration of surfactant. This minima suggested a structural change in the mixed micelles.