Self‐Assembly Behaviors of Anionic–Cationic Binary Surfactant Systems in Poly(ethylene glycol) 200

The self‐assembly behaviors of mixtures of sodium bis(2‐ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) and didodecyl dimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) in polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG 200) and in water were investigated by surface tension, conductivity, steady‐state fluorescence and dynamic light scattering (DLS) methods. The results show that the oppositely charged binary surfactant system can form micelles in PEG 200; the critical micellization concentration (CMC) decreases for the binary system versus those of either surfactant alone. Although there is no charge screening in the PEG 200 system, the CMC values significantly increase and the system does not precipitate or show turbidity at any proportion of AOT to DDAB, while a multiphase composition gap exists in water due to the strong electrostatic attraction. It is speculated that the weak polarity of PEG 200, the decreased solvophobic interaction between the alkyl chain and PEG 200, and the loose structure of the resulting micelles might explain the experimental phenomena. Observed from the values of the interaction parameter, it is found that there are a strong attractive interaction and a synergistic effect between AOT and DDAB in aqueous solution, in comparison, the synergy between them in PEG 200 is very weak.