Influence of the propanol on the behaviour of binary mixture of nonionic surfactants at the water–air interface

Bubble Rise Velocity and Surface Mobility in Aqueous Solutions of Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate and n-Propanol

Aqueous solutions of simple alcohols exhibit many anomalies, one of which is a change in the mobility of the bubble surface. This work aimed to determine the effect of the presence of another surface-active agent on bubble rise velocity and bubble surface mobility. The motion of the spherical bubble in an aqueous solution of n-propanol and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) was monitored by a high-speed camera. At low alcohol concentrations (xP < 0.01), both the propanol and SDS molecules behaved as surfactants, the surface tension decreased and the bubble surface was immobile. The effect of the SDS diminished with increasing alcohol concentrations. In solutions with a high propanol content (xP > 0.1), the SDS molecules did not adsorb to the phase interface and thus, the surface tension of the solution was not reduced with the addition of SDS. Due to the rapid desorption of propanol molecules from the bottom of the bubble, a surface tension gradient was not formed. The drag coefficient can be calculated using formulas for the mobile surface of a spherical bubble.

The effect of temperature, composition and alcohols on the microstructures of catanionic mixtures of sodium dodecylsulfate and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide in water

The influence of mixing protocol, composition, temperature, ageing and added alcohols on the characteristics of the microstructures of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) + cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) mixtures has been investigated in this paper. In this catanionic mixture (1 weight% total surfactant content) temperature induced microstructural transition occurs, which is (i) a micelle-to-vesicle transition (MVT) if α_SDS (mole fraction of SDS) = 0.7, 0.8 or 0.9 and (ii) a vesicle-to-micelle transition (VMT) if α_SDS = 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3. In the mixture of α_SDS = 0.7, specific conductivity and dynamic light scattering measurements also support the occurrence of MVT. Transition electron microscopy and small angle neutron scattering measurements were also made to assess the characteristics of the microstructures. Alcohols added to the mixture of α_SDS = 0.7 reduced the size of the vesicle, while only monohydric alcohols suppressed the temperature induced transition indicating that the number and location of -OH groups of the alcohols have a dramatic modulating influence on the structural transition occurring in catanionic mixtures. The influence of the alcohols is explained in terms of changes produced in the dielectric constant and hydrophobicity of the medium.