An Alternative Approach for Determining Critical Micelle Concentration: Dispersion of Ink in Foam |
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| Authors: | Ambika Pradhan Amitabha Bhattacharyya |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Physics, Sikkim University, Tadong, Gangtok, Sikkim, India |
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| Abstract: | The present work investigates the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of nonionic surfactant solutions using a new approach by monitoring the dirt dispersion (DD) defined as the amount of dirt absorbed by foam using India ink as a model dirt. DD has so far been studied qualitatively by eye estimation. Our quantification studies show that DD increases with increasing surfactant concentration and reaches a maximum. After this, it decreases and becomes very small. The concentration for which DD is maximum corresponds to the CMC, as determined from surface tension measurements. The CMC of natural surfactants obtained from plants Sapindus mukorossi, Albizia procera, Juglans regia, Zephyranthes carinata, and Acacia concinna was determined. The CMC obtained by DD are in reasonably good agreement with those obtained using the surface tension method. The DD method is easy, rapid, and inexpensive and can become an effective tool for estimating the CMC. |
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| Keywords: | Dirt dispersion Critical micelle concentration Natural surfactants Surface tension Foam |
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