Micellization behavior of the mixtures of amino sulfonate amphoteric surfactant and octadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide in aqueous solution at 40 °C: a tensiometric study

In aqueous solution at 40 °C, the micellization behavior of the binary mixtures constituted by an amphoteric sodium n-dodecyl diamine sulfonate and a cationic octadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide has been investigated by the tensiometric technology. The values of critical micelle concentration (cmc) were determined by surface tension measurement of aqueous solution. The experimental data were analyzed according to various mixing thermodynamic models within the framework of the pseudophase separation model. The values of mixed cmc have been predicted successfully by both the Rubingh’s and Rodenas’s treatments. Various parameters like the mixed cmc, interaction parameters between surfactants (β12), the compositions and activity coefficients in mixed micelles as well as thermodynamic properties have been determined using Lang, Rubingh, Rodenas, and Rosen approach. Over the entire composition range investigated, the mixed micelle formation, non-ideal or ideal mixing, and synergistic effect or antagonism are explained by the electrostatic interaction between ionic headgroups of surfactants and the steric effect of surfactant. Thermodynamic parameters favor the process of micellization which is found to be entropy-driven.