A Model-Independent Evaluation of Experimental Data, and Comparison with Theory, of Synergistic Effects in Mixtures of an Ionic and a Nonionic Surfactant

• Published in: Langmuir 2003-12, Vol.19 (26), p.10719-10725
• Main Authors: Bergström, Magnus, Jonsson, Petra, Persson, Marcus, Eriksson, Jan Christer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alkylglycosides; maltoside; mechanics; mixed micelles; shaped micelles; thermodynamics; vesicles
• ISSN: 0743-7463; 1520-5827; 1520-5827
• DOI: 10.1021/la030238b

Critical micelle concentrations for mixtures of an anionic (sodium dodecyl sulfate) and a nonionic (decyl β-glucoside) surfactant was obtained from surface tension measurements at different concentrations of added NaCl. The observed synergistic effects were analyzed by means of introducing a novel model-independent synergy parameter. The model-independent evaluation has enabled the comparison of experimental results with a theoretical model based on the Poisson−Boltzmann (PB) mean field theory for spherical, cylindrical, and planar geometries, respectively. We found that best agreement with experimental data was obtained for largely curved structures (spherical and cylindrical micelles) at all [NaCl], which is consistent with the fact that rather small micelles, as a rule, form at the critical micelle concentration. Moreover, the PB theory was found to better describe synergistic behavior of the experimental data than the more conventional regular mixture theory, in particular at low electrolyte concentrations. The magnitude of the observed synergistic effects was found to increase as a small amount of NaCl was added and reach a maximum at [NaCl] = 10 mM, in agreement with the PB theory. As expected, synergism was observed to decrease in magnitude upon further addition of NaCl.