Phase Behavior and Phase Structure for Catanionic Surfactant Mixtures: Dodecyltrimethylammonium Chloride−Sodium Nonanoate−Water System

Abstract

The phase behavior and phase structure of catanionic surfactant mixtures of DoTAC (dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride) and SN (sodium nonanoate) with water are studied by combined 2H NMR, SAXS, and microscopy techniques at 40 °C. The system forms a large isotropic micellar solution phase with excess water. As the concentration of total surfactant is increased, the solution phase coexists with different liquid crystalline phasesa lamellar phase at equimolar ratio of the two surfactants and hexagonal phases with excess DoTAC and excess SN. The lamellar and hexagonal liquid crystalline phases formed by the binary DoTAC system extensively swell with water on adding the anionic surfactant, and the swelling is more dramatic for the lamellar phase which extends to an equimolar ratio of the two surfactants. The mesophase of the short alkyl chain is incapable of solubilizing any substantial amounts of the long chain DoTAC molecules. SAXS data shows a decrease in bilayer thickness and an unchanged average area per p...