Electric birefringence relaxation spectroscopy of linear micelles in aqueous cetyltrimethylammonium bromide solutions with sodium salicylate.

The influence of sodium salicylate (NaSal) concentration on the linear micelle formation in an aqueous solution of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is investigated by the frequency-domain electric birefringence relaxation spectroscopy (FEB method). The contour length L of linear micelles is found to increase with increasing NaSal concentration Cs but for further increase of Cs in excess of the CTAB concentration, L decreases, i.e., linear micelles break into shorter pieces. The FEB result indicates also that the diffusion constant of salicylate ions bound to a linear micelle is nearly independent of Cs with an average value smaller than that of free salicylate ions. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]