Aggregation properties of mixed surfactant systems of dimeric butane-1,4-bis(dodecylhydroxyethylmethylammonium bromide) and its monomeric counterpart

Small angle neutron scattering and conductance measurements were carried out for understanding the behavior of mixed surfactant system containing novel hydroxylated gemini surfactant 12-4-12 MEA (where MEA is monoethanol amine) and its corresponding monomeric counterpart dodecyldimethylethanol ammonium bromide (C12DMEAB). Critical micelle concentration (cmc) and average degree of ionization (βave) of mixed micelle was determined from conductance data, where as aggregation number (N), effective fractional charge per monomer (α), equilibrium distance between the charged heads (d) and dimension of micelle (b/a) were determined from SANS data. cmc, βave and d values were observed to decrease significantly and N and b/a values were observed to increase with increasing mole fraction of 12-4-12 MEA surfactant in mixed micellar system. The Kraft temperature (kT), methyl methacrylate (MMA) solubilization capacity, foamability and foam stability of mixed surfactant systems were also examined.