Detection of the critical micelle concentration of cationic and anionic surfactants based on aggregation-induced emission property of hexaphenylsilole derivatives

We report a fluorescence “turn-on” method to detect the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of surfactants. This method works well for both cationic and anionic surfactants. It employs an unprecedented mechanism (aggregation-induced emission, or AIE) to determine the CMC values, and the results are consistent with the data obtained by the classical techniques. In addition, this method renders the convenient detection of the CMC values. Any large and professional instruments are unnecessary, instead, a portable UV lamp and an ultrasonic generator are enough to carry out the detection in an ordinary laboratory. Considering that micelles are interesting entities and have found applications in many important fields such as emulsion polymerization, template of nanosized materials synthesis, controllable drug delivery and macromolecular self-assembling. Our experimental results may offer a facile, sensitive and promising method to detect the formation of micelles constructed by the new amphiphilic molecules and macromolecules.