Adsorption of oppositely charged polyelectrolyte/gemini surfactant mixtures at the air/water interface and the effects of NaBr: a surface tension study

The adsorption of mixed solutions containing an anionic polyelectrolyte, carboxymethylchitosan (CMCH), and cationic gemini surfactants, alkanediyl-bis-(dimethyldodecyl-ammonium bromide) (C12-s-C12, s = 2, 6, 12), has been investigated by surface tension method. The oppositely charged polyelectrolyte and the surfactants co-adsorb at the surface to form highly surface-active complexes. Combining the surface tension data with the Gibbs equation, it is referred that the surface layers of the mixed solutions have the multi-level structure, which includes the sublayers beneath an outermost layer. The gemini surfactant spacer with different length takes different conformations in the surface layers. The salt (NaBr) effects on the adsorption of the mixtures have also been studied. The spacer length of C12-s-C12 influences the responses of CMCH/C12-s-C12 mixtures to the salt effects. The comprehensive salt effects depend on the competition between the salt-enhancing effect and the salt-weakening effect.