It is well known that surfactant molecules within an aqueous solution self-assemble into a wide variety of three-dimensional structures such as micelles, vesicles, and liposomes.   The structure formed is dependent upon additional factors such as temperature, salt concentration, and co-surfactants present.  In particular it has been shown that an alcohol co-surfactant paired with CTAB, the most prevalent cationic surfactant, can result in drastic changes to the microstructure formed.  Yet a fully detailed understanding of various co-surfactant compositions and headgroup interactions directly at the oil-water interface is not yet well understood.  This presentation will focus on our results from the use of a powerful surface selective technique, vibrational sum-frequency (VSF) spectroscopy to extract molecular orientation and behavior information about the competitive and cooperative effects that occur between co-surfactants at the oil-water interface.

Molecular studies of the assembly of co-surfactants at the oil-water interface

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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