Effect of counterion size on the viscosity behaviour of sodium dodecyl sulphate micellar solutions

The influence of hydrophobic counterions on micellar growth of ionic surfactants

This review covers the effects of hydrophobic counterions on the phase behavior of ionic surfactants and the properties of the phases. Mixing hydrophobic counterions with ionic surfactant micellar solutions may initiate the micellar growth and transform the micellar microstructure into different morphologies. This behavior may also be achieved by mixing ionic surfactants with hydrophilic counterions, although higher counterionic concentrations are then required. First, the role of hydrophilic and hydrophobic counterions in regards to micelle growth is discussed. Second, the effect of the hydrophobic counterion on the self-assembly of cationic and anionic surfactants and their viscoelastic behavior are presented. Third, the relationships between geometry, hydrophobicity and their consequences on micellar growth for different hydrophobic counterions are reviewed. Forth, the influence of hydrophobic counterion substituents (substitution pattern) on the phase behavior is discussed. Some results we previously obtained for different isomers of hydroxy naphthaoic acids and the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium hydroxide are included. With these systems the effect that the hydrophobic counterion microenvironment has on the phase behavior, rheological behavior and the micellar microstructure is discussed. The results from other research groups are also discussed.

Determining the association constant and adsorption properties of ion pairs in water by fitting surface tension data

Association constants and adsorption parameters of tetraalkylammoniumdodecyl sulfate (TAADS) ion pairs in water were determined. We have analyzed water/air surface tension measurements obtained for mixtures of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and tetraalkylammonium bromide of increasing chain lengths (TMAB, TEAB, TPAB, and TBAB). To reproduce the experimental isotherms, we coupled the association equilibrium of the ion pairs to the equations proposed by Fainerman and co-workers to model the adsorption of binary mixtures of surfactants (SDS and TAADS) with different molar areas at a nonideal surface layer. The parameters found showed that the model is not convenient to describe the effect of the addition of TMAB but a clear coherency was obtained for the three longer compounds. Ranging from TEADS to TBADS increasing hydrophobic interactions give rise to a higher associability but to a lower surface activity. Self-interactions coefficients extracted by the fitting procedure confirmed the importance of attractive interactions between the ion pairs. The calculated surface coverage showed that in every case the compound mainly adsorbed at the interface was the ion pair. For TBADS strong attractive interactions result in a phase transition at very low concentration.