Effect of addition of hydrophilic ionic liquid 3-methyl-1-pentylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([C₅mim][BF₄]) on an aqueous solution of triton X-100

ABSTRACT

The effect of addition of 3-methyl-1-pentylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([C₅mim][BF₄]) on the micellization of a nonionic surfactant, Triton X-100 (TX-100), has been investigated. The techniques employed to study the aggregation behavior are fluoremetry, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the concentration range covered is 0–2 wt% [C₅mim][BF₄]. The probes, viz. pyrene and pyrene-1-carboxaldehyde (PyCHO), have been used for fluorescence analysis. According to the findings, the addition of pentyl-chained ionic liquid (IL) to aqueous TX-100 results in a dramatic increase in critical micelle concentration (cmc) decrease in micellar size, and aggregation number pointing toward an overall “unfavorable” aggregation process.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• DLS
• fluorescence
• ionic liquid
• nonionic surfactant
• TEM

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India (Grant No.21(1005)/15/EMR-II) through Emeritus Scientist grant to Prof. A. Pal.