Application Note - Determination of the critical micelle concentration of a surfactant from viscosity measurements

The critical micelle concentration (CMC) is a fundamental and important parameter in surfactant science, as well as in applications involving detergents, cosmetics, personal care products, oilfield chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and food products.

In this application note, we show how we calculate the CMC by using the VROC^® initium one plus to measure the viscosity variation with SDS concentration for un-micellized (0 mM ≤ c_SDS < CMC) and micellized (CMC < c_SDS ≤ 30 mM) solutions. In addition, we investigate the effect of added glycerol on the CMC, and compare our results to those published in the literature. Our goal was to show how we can use this sensitive, high throughput, and small volume viscometer to calculate the CMC of surfactant solutions under different conditions.

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