Abstract
Physicochemical properties of aqueous micellar solutions may change in the presence of ionic liquids (ILs). Micelles help to increase the aqueous solubility of ILs. The average size of the micellar aggregates within aqueous sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) is observed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to increase in a sudden and drastic fashion as the IL 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) is added. Similar addition of [bmim][PF6] to aqueous sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) results in only a slow gradual increase in average aggregate size. While addition of the IL [bmim][BF4] also gives rise to sudden aggregate size enhancement within aqueous SDBS, the IL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([emim][BF4]), and inorganic salts NaPF6 and NaBF4, only gradually increase the assembly size upon their addition. Bulk dynamic viscosity, microviscosity, dipolarity (indicated by the fluorescent reporter pyrene), zeta potential, and electrical conductance measurements were taken to gain insight into this unusual size enhancement. It is proposed that bmim
þcations of the IL undergo Coulombic attractive interactions with anionic headgroups at the micellar surface at all [bmim][PF6] concentrations in aqueous SDS; in aqueous SDBS, beyond a critical IL concentration, bmim þ becomes involved in cation-π interaction with the phenyl moiety of SDBS within micellar aggregates with the butyl group aligned along the alkyl chain of the surfactant. This relocation of bmim þ results in an unprecedented size increase in micellar aggregates. Aromaticity of the IL cation alongside the presence of sufficiently aliphatic (butyl or longer) alkyl chains on the IL appear to be essential for this dramatic critical expansion in self-assembly dimensions within aqueous SDBS.