The aqueous catanionic system sodium perfluorooctanoate-dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide at low concentration.

The interaction between sodium perfluorooctanoate (SPFO) and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) was studied by several methods and it was found strongly synergistic. Above a mole fraction of SPFO in the surfactant mixture (alpha(SPFO))=0.38, the interaction is repulsive and increases with the content of SPFO in both, the overall mixture and micelles, whereas the interaction is attractive if DTAB is in excess. At alpha(SPFO)=0.38 the low miscibility between hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon is counterbalanced by the electrostatic attraction between the opposite charged head groups, and the micelle composition is ideal (i.e., the mole fraction of SPFO in micelles X(SPFO)=alpha(SPFO)=0.38). The solubility of fluorocarbon in hydrocarbon is lower than that of hydrocarbon in fluorocarbon. Micelles of DTAB act as a solvent for SPFO without important structural changes, whilst micelles of SPFO undergo important changes when dissolve DTAB. This asymmetry may be interpreted as caused by the difference in chain length that favors the inclusion of the shorter chain in micelles of the longer surfactant, but disfavors the opposite process. Above X(SPFO)=0.5 there is an excess adsorption of bromide ions on the mixed micelles surface, giving rise to a high zeta potential. Micelles of pure SPFO or pure DTAB show an important energy barrier which prevents micelle flocculation. The inclusion of SPFO in DTAB micelles produces a reduction of the energy barrier, which disappeared when alpha(SPFO)=0.5. This produces the flocculation of micelles giving rise to the formation of a non-birefringent coacervate, which is probably formed by unordered isometric clusters of micelles.