The Krafft temperature of surfactant solutions

Abstract

Our main motivation to revisit the solution properties of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide is related to the clear requirement for better control of the adsorption parameters to form uniform self-assembled monolayers on muscovite mica sub-strates. To readily monitor the temporal evolution of structural details in cetyltrimethylammonium bromide solutions, we realized a rather simple conductivity experiment. Conductivity measurements were carried out as a function of temperature, to look closer into the Krafft temperature behavior of this surfactant. We measured the electrical conductivity of different concentrations of aqueous cetyltrimethylammonium bromide solutions, below and above the critical micells concentration.