Investigation of the Thermodynamic Properties of the Cationic Surfactant CTAC in EG + Water Binary Mixtures

To understand the thermodynamic characteristics of cationic surfactants in binary mixtures, the aggregation behavior of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) has been investigated in ethylene glycol (EG) + water solvent mixtures at different temperatures and EG to water ratios. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) and degree of counter ion bonding (β) were calculated from electrical conductivity measurements. An equilibrium model for micelle formation was applied to obtain the thermodynamic parameters for micellization, including the standard Gibbs energies of micellization (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$\Delta G_{\mathrm{mic}}^{\mathrm{o}})$\end{document}, standard enthalpies of micelle formation (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$\Delta H_{\mathrm{mic}}^{\mathrm{o}})$\end{document} and standard entropies of micellization (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$\Delta S_{\mathrm{mic}}^{\mathrm{o}})$\end{document}. Our results show that \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$\Delta G_{\mathrm{mic}}^{\mathrm{o}}$\end{document} is always negative and slightly dependent on temperature. The process of micellization is entropy driven in pure water, whereas in EG + water mixtures the micellization is enthalpy driven.