Interaction of surfactants with block-copolymer systems in the presence of Hofmeister anions

The interactions of block copolymers poly (ethylene oxide butylene oxide), E58B7 and E58B11 with anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate and cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide were studied by using different techniques such as surface tension, conductivity, and dynamic light scattering. The effect of salts in the Hofmeister series on polymer-surfactant systems was also investigated. The interactions were found to be dependent on both surfactant and polymer concentrations. The results were utilized to compute different thermodynamic parameters including enthalpy of micellization (Delta H-m), entropy of micellization (Delta S-m), free energy of adsorption (Delta G(ads)) and free energy of micellization (Delta G(mic)). For diblock-copolymer surfactant systems the negative value of (Delta G(mic)) shows that the process of micelle formation is thermodynamically favorable. The solubilization in surfactant micelles altered the physicochemical properties of the block copolymer. The value of critical aggregation concentration decreases with the addition of Hofmeister anions, and the decrease is more pronounced for sodium fluoride as compared to sodium iodide.