Molecular interaction between sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate and octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether and effect of hydrophilic chain

Abstract

The micellization behavior of two binary mixtures of an anionic sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate with a nonionic surfactant octylphenol polyethoxylated ether (including OP-10 or OP-7) was investigated in aqueous solution at 298.15 K using the tensiometry, and the effect of hydrophilic chain of nonionic surfactant was discussed. In the framework of pseudophase separation model and based on the regular solution theory, the related micellization parameters and thermodynamic parameters were estimated by some models including Clint’s model, Rubingh’s model, etc. The two mixtures exist some differences in the micellization behavior. The synergistic effect, the antagonism, nonideal mixing and ideal mixing are observed in the two mixtures. The dependence of the mixed critical micelle concentration, the composition in mixed micelle, the interaction parameter between molecules on the composition in aqueous solution is explained by the electrostatic interaction, the steric effect and the shell structure of mixed micelle, etc. Thermodynamic parameters are adopted to account for the difference in energy and verify the micellization behavior. The two binary mixtures show different contributions of energy to the process of micellization. These findings help with understanding the nature on the interaction between two surfactants and the effect of the length of hydrophilic chain of nonionic surfactant so as to obtain some information in theoretical and practical investigations.