Clouding Behavior and Thermodynamic Study of Nonionic Surfactants in Presence of Additives

The present study investigates the effect of different additives on the cloud point (CP) of nonionic surfactants Triton X-100 (TX-100) and Triton X-114 (TX-114) in aqueous solutions. The thermodynamic parameters of these mixtures were calculated at different additive concentrations. The cloud point of nonionic surfactants TX-100 and TX-114 decreased with the increment of electrolyte concentrations and increased with alcohol concentrations. The standard Gibbs free energy was found to be positive for both the surfactants, whereas the enthalpy and the entropy of the clouding phenomenon were found to be positive with alcohols and negative with electrolytes. The overall clouding process was endothermic for alcohols and exothermic for electrolytes.