Study of mixed micelles and interaction parameters for polymeric nonionic and normal surfactants

Surface tension (ST) measurements were carried out on various binary mixtures of the "normal" surfactants, such as nonionic surfactant, hexaethylene glycol mono-n-dodecyl ether(C ₁₂EO ₆), and cationic surfactant, tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB), and polymeric copolymer, Pluronic F127, F127(PPO)-g-PVP, and F127(PEO)-g-PVP. In all cases mixed micellar aggregates were formed and critical micellar concentrations of binary mixtures containing different mole fractions of the surfactants were measured using surface tension measurement. In the region where mixed micelles are formed, the interaction of two "normal" surfactants and three "polymeric" nonionic surfactants showed synergistic behavior and the results were analyzed using a interaction parameter, β, which characterized the interaction in the mixed micelle and introduced by a regular solution theory. The regular solution theory can be applied to describe the interaction between TTAB and C ₁₂EO ₆, and graft polymeric surfactants systems. The results discussed in this paper indicated that regular solution theory has broader extent of application.