Fractional ionization of cetyltrimethylammonium hydroxide micelles determined by dynamic light scattering

Using the method of dynamic light scattering we have measured the diffusion coefficients D of cetyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (CTAOH) micelles as a function of CTAOH and NaOH concentrations at 25°C for 0.01 ≤ [CTAOH] ≤ 0.05 M and 0.02 ≤ [NaOH] ≤ 0.5 M. Substantial enhancements in the diffusivity were observed at low [NaOH] due to the presence of strong intermicellar electrostatic repulsions. We obtained good theoretical fits to the D versus [CTAOH], [NaOH] data over the range 0.01 ≤ [NaOH] ≤ 0.5 M using linear interaction theory (including both thermodynamic and hydrodynamic corrections to D ) with a DLVO-type pair interaction potential. From these fits we obtained estimates of the mean micellar hydrodynamic radius, R h ∼ 23.4 A, and the micellar fractional ionization, α ∼ 0.5.