Unlike surfactant-polymer interactions of sodium dodecyl sulfate and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate with water-soluble polymers

Single and mixed micelle formation by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) and their mixtures in pure water and in the presence of water-soluble polymers such as Synperonic 85 (triblock polymer, TBP), hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC), and carboxymethylcellulose sodium salt (CMC) were studied with the help of conductivity, pyrene fluorescence, cyclic voltammetry, and viscosity measurements. Conductivity measurements showed a single aggregation process for pure surfactants and their mixtures both in pure water as well as in the presence of water-soluble polymers. Triple breaks corresponding to two aggregation processes for SDS, SDBS, and their mixture in the presence of TBP were observed from fluorescence measurements. The first one demonstrated the critical aggregation process due to the adsorption of surfactant monomers on TBP macromolecule. The second one was attributed to the participation of surfactant-polymer aggregates formed at the first one, in the micelle formation process. The aggregation number (N-agg) of single and mixed micelles and diffusion coefficient (D) of electroactive probe were computed from the fluorescence and cyclic voltammetry measurements, respectively. Both parameters, along with the viscosity results, indicated stronger SDS-polymer interactions in comparison to SDBS-polymer interactions. Mixed surfactant-polymer interactions showed compensating effects of both pure surfactants. The nature of mixed micelles was found to be ideal in all cases, as evaluated by applying the regular solution and Motomura's approximations.