ABSTRACT
Micelles formed by novel gemini esterquat surfactants have been investigated with small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The growth behavior of the micelles is found to differ conspicuously depending on the length of the gemini surfactant spacer group. The gemini surfactant with a long spacer form rather small triaxial ellipsoidal tablet-shaped micelles that grow weakly with surfactant concentration in the entire range of measured concentrations. Geminis with a short spacer, on the other hand, form weakly growing oblates or tablets at low concentrations that start to grow much more strongly into polydisperse rodlike or wormlike micelles at higher concentrations. The latter behavior is consistent with the presence of a second CMC that marks the transition from the weakly to the strongly growing regime. It is found that the growth behavior in terms of aggregation number as a function of surfactant concentration always appear concave in weakly growing regimes, while switching to convex behavior in strongly growing regimes. As a result, we are able to determine the second CMC of the geminis with short spacer by means of suggesting a rather precise definition of it, located at the point of inflection of the growth curve that corresponds to the transition from concave to convex growth behavior. Our SANS results are rationalized by comparison with the recently developed general micelle model. In particular, this theory is able to explain and reproduce the characteristic appearances of the experimental growth curves, including the presence of a second CMC and the convex strongly growing regime beyond. By means of optimizing the agreement between predictions from the general micelle model and results from SANS experiments, we are able to determine the three bending elasticity constants spontaneous curvature, bending rigidity, and saddle-splay constant for each surfactant.
ABSTRACT
Self-assembly of pure ester-containing cationic gemini surfactants, dodecyl esterquat, and dodecyl betainate geminis, and cation-rich catanionic mixtures of them with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were investigated using surface tension, electrical conductivity, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements in the absence and presence of KCl. Different physicochemical properties such as the critical micelle concentration (CMC), degree of counterion dissociation (αdiss), interfacial properties, morphology of aggregates, and interparticle interaction parameters were determined. Both geminis formed micelles in the absence of KCl, and mixing with SDS did not change the morphology; just a growth in micelle size was observed. However, the aggregation behavior of these geminis with respect to the position of the ester bond in the alkyl chain appeared completely different in the presence of KCl. Esterquat gemini formed cubic nanoparticles (or cobosomes) in the presence of [KCl] = 0.05 M and transformed into spherical micelles upon increasing the surfactant concentration. By contrast, betainate gemini formed vesicles in the presence of [KCl] = 0.05 M and subsequently converted to micelles as the surfactant concentration increased. The morphology of esterquat gemini (in the presence of 0.05 M KCl) after mixing with SDS changed from cubic nanoparticles (or cobosomes) to cylindrical nanoparticles coexistent with cobosomes. Betainate gemini remained vesicular upon mixing with SDS, and no dramatic structural change of aggregates took place. The morphology changes of aggregates upon mixing with SDS were explained from calculating the interactions between two gemini surfactants and SDS on the basis of regular solution theory.
