Self-assembled structure of sulfonic gemini surfactant solution

Abstract

Sulfonate gemini surfactant is a new type of anionic gemini surfactant. The unique structure of double sulfonate endows the sulfonate gemini surfactant with superior surfactant properties, including lower critical micelle concentration (CMC), unusual decontamination ability, excellent stability in strong acid/alkali solution. In this paper, the self-assembled structure of gemini dodecyl sulfonate sodium, abbreviated as 12-2-12(SO3Na)2, is studied by using of dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) method. We have constructed a spring structure model of surfactant molecules, and the effect of length hydrophobic chain, the concentration of surfactants, ethanol addictive on the self-assembly behavior and critical micelle concentration (CMC) was investigated. The results show that with the increase of the concentration of surfactants in aqueous solution, spherical, wormlike and layered micelles appear in turn. With the increase of the length of the hydrophobic chain, the clusters of the surfactants become tighter and the larger clusters are presented at the lower concentration. It was found that the addition of ethanol molecule can enhance the solubility of hydrophobic group and thus inhibit the formation of the micelles.