General rules for the scaling behavior of linear wormlike micelles formed in catanionic surfactant systems.

We report in this work on the scaling behavior of wormlike micelles formed in a series of mixed systems of oppositely charged surfactants, including sodium decanote (SD)/hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium laurate (SL)/hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide, sodium didecaminocystine (SDDC)/hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide, and sodium dilauraminocystine (SDLC)/hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide. Steady and dynamic rheological measurements were performed to characterize these wormlike micelles. The scaling behavior for these systems at various mixing ratios was systematically investigated and was compared with that given by the Cates model. It was found that the Cates law can be applied in these systems simply by manipulating the mixing ratio or the surfactant structure. Energetic analysis demonstrates that the scaling behavior of wormlike micelles in nonequimolar mixed cationic and anionic surfactant systems can be close to that predicted by the Cates model, if the electrostatic contribution is below a threshold value.