The effect and enhancement mechanism of hydrophobic interaction and electrostatic interaction on zwitterionic wormlike micelles

The effects of hydrophobic interaction and electrostatic interaction on the structure of zwitterionic wormlike micelles (WLMs) were studied. The change of the hydrocarbon chain length and addition of cetyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (CTAC) were employed to explore the effect of hydrophobic interaction and electrostatic interaction on the wormlike micelles constructed by zwitterionic viscoelastic surfactants and sodium p-toluene sulfonate (NaPts). The experimental results show that increasing hydrocarbon chain length of zwitterionic sur-factant and the addition of CTAC can increase the viscoelasticity and zero-shear viscosity of the system. The calculated length of wormlike micelles also increases. This shows that the enhancement of hydrophobic inter-action and electrostatic interaction can promote the growth and entanglement of wormlike micelles. In addition, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images confirmed that CTAC makes the connection between the zwitter-ionic micellar layer closer. This is undoubtedly beneficial to the growth of micellar structure. Finally, this work explores the enhancement mechanism of the hydrophobic interaction and electrostatic interaction on the micelle structure.