Excess free energy, enthalpy and entropy of surfactant-surfactant mixed micelle formation

Enthalpies of dilution and osmotic coefficients of sodium decylsulfate (NaDeS)-dodecyldimethylamine oxide (DDAO) mixtures in water were determined at 298 and 310 K, respectively. From the enthalpies of dilution, the apparent and then the partial molar relative enthalpies of the surfactant mixtures were calculated. From the osmotic coefficients, calculated at 298 K, the non-ideal free energies were derived. The latter were combined with the partial molar relative enthalpies to obtain the non-ideal entropies. From the apparent molar properties, using a previously reported approach, the excess thermodynamic properties for the surfactant-surfactant mixed micelle formation in water were evaluated as functions of the mixture composition at some total micellized concentration. In the whole range of the mixture composition, the excess free energy is negative, indicating that the mixed micelle formation is favoured with respect to that of pure micelles. This process is governed by the enthalpy and/or the entropy, depending on the mixture composition. The effect of the alkyl chain length was also studied by comparing the present results to those of the sodium dodecylsulfate-DDAO mixture.