Investigation of AOT/isooctane/water reverse microemulsion system with the presence of different mass ratios of SDS: Conductivity and water solubilization

The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of mixed surfactants reverse microemulsion systems by adding different proportions of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) to sodium bis (2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate(AOT) /isooctane/water reverse microemulsions. The effects of solubilization water, conductivity and KCl ionic strength on the formation boundary and formation process of AOT/isooctane/water reverse microemulsion were investigated by combining experiments with dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. The formation mechanism is initially explored by mutual validation of experiments and simulations. This approach can help researchers to quickly infer structural changes and also reduce the cost of experimental development. Based on the performance of the AOT reverse microemulsion system, AOT-SDS reverse microemulsion system was prepared with the mass ratios of AOT: SDS of 9:1, 7:3, 5:5, 3:7, 1:9. The reverse microemulsion with AOT: SDS of 9:1 demonstrated the best characteristics in water solubilization and stability. By comparing the performance of two microemulsions to demonstrate that SDS changed the structure of AOT reverse microemulsion and its solubilization water volume and stability. Moreover, we believe that the AOT-SDS/isooctane/water microemulsion system is worthy to be developed by comparing similar mixed surfactant microemulsion systems.

Automated summary

This study investigated the performance of mixed surfactants reverse microemulsion systems by combining experiments with simulations. The AOT-SDS reverse microemulsion demonstrated superior water solubilization and stability compared to AOT reverse microemulsion. SDS was found to alter the structure of AOT reverse microemulsion and significantly impact its performance.