Effect of Ionic Liquids on Surface and Aggregation Properties of Non‐ionic Surfactant Triton™ X‐100 in Aqueous Media

The effect of the hydrophilic ionic liquids (ILs) 1‐butyl‐2,3‐dimethylimidazolium bromide [bdmim][Br] and 1‐hexyl‐2,3‐dimethylimidazolium bromide [hdmim][Br] on the aggregation and surface active behaviour of the non‐ionic surfactant Triton™ X‐100 (TX‐100) was studied in aqueous media. Several aggregation properties of TX‐100 + IL/water systems, such as critical micelle concentration (CMC), surface active parameters, aggregation number (Nagg) and aggregate size, were determined by surface tension, fluorescence and dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques. It was found that the average micellar size and aggregation number decrease, whereas the CMC increases with increasing concentration of ILs. Interestingly, the CMC value of TX‐100 is reduced slightly below 0.5 wt% of both the ILs in the medium. At higher wt% of IL in the system the CMC increases. It was demonstrated that ILs [bdmim][Br] and [hdmim][Br] can be judiciously used at different wt% for modifying the physico‐chemical properties of TX‐100.