Phase behaviours and conductivity study of water/CPC/alkan-1-ol (C4and C5)/1-hexane water/oil microemulsions with reference to their structure and related thermodynamics

Abstract

The microemulsion forming systems of water/cetylpyridinium chloride/butan-1-ol/n-hexane, and water/cetylpyridinium chloride/pentan-1-ol/n-hexane have been studied with respect to their phase behaviours and percolation of conductance to derive information on their droplet physicochemical characteristics (dimension, interfacial area and composition, and number density). This was carried out at different water contents at specific ratios of surfactant and cosurfactant and at various temperatures. From the information collected, the energetics of the transfer of the alkanol (butan-1-ol and pentan-1-ol) from the continuous oil-phase to the interfacial region (the interphase) have been estimated. At the conductance percolation threshold, the droplets cluster or associate, can be considered to form a pseudophase similar to surfactants forming micelles. Based on this concept, the energetics of the clustering process have been evaluated, and the results are discussed in comparison with other recently studied systems.Key words: energetics of clustering, percolation, phase diagrams, microemulsions and thermodynamics of transfer.