Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng.

Aspects 288 (2006) 96–102

Colloidal stability of di-chain cationic and ethoxylated nonionic

surfactant mixtures used in commercial fabric softeners
Mansur S. Mohammadi ∗
Unilever Research and Development, Fabric Conditioning and Care, Port Sunlight, Wirral CH63 3JW, UK
Received 21 October 2005; received in revised form 25 April 2006; accepted 5 May 2006
Available online 12 May 2006

Abstract
Mixed surfactant systems find extensive use in laundry for fabric cleaning and fabric conditioning and in personal products as shampoos and
hair conditioners. This paper studies the colloidal stability of a system containing co-exiting liposome and bilayer fragment phases used in fabric
conditioners.
Di-chain cationic surfactants form L␤ liposomal structures in water, which on addition of ethoxylated nonionic surfactants transform into
intermediate L␤ bilayer fragments or disks and eventually to mixed micelles. Co-exiting liposome-fragment structures show a smaller phase
volume compared to liposomal dispersions and therefore have lower viscosities and better flow properties.
In contrast to the colloidal forces that control the stability of liposomes the stability in fragment containing dispersions is mainly controlled by
the steric repulsion provided by the ethoxylate chains that are partitioned at the edges of the fragments to reduce their hydrophobic edge tension.
We show here that the gel formation phenomenon observed in fragment containing dispersions at elevated temperatures is a manifestation of the
well-known ‘cloud point’ depression effect associated with the de-hydration of ethoxylate chains. This shortens the range of the steric repulsion
between the chains leading to the edge-to-edge coalescence of the fragments and hence the gelation and viscosity increase on ageing.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Ester quats; Sugar surfactants; Flocculation; Coagulation rate theory

1. Introduction of a dispersion of liposomal particles (vesicles and multilamellar

Fabric conditioners are a dispersion of di-alkyl cationic sur-
factants used in the last rinse during a washing cycle to soften
fabrics [1,2]. They adsorb onto fibres such as cotton, which in
the wash carry a negative surface charge, and coat them with
a mono-molecular layer. This ‘boundary’ layer lubricates the
fibres reducing the fibre–fibre and fibre–skin friction giving the
fabric a soft feel to the touch [3].
Fig. 1 represents the chemical structures of some di-chain
quaternary ammonium salts (ester quats) used in fabric condi-
tioners [4] and compares them with the structure of a membrane
forming phospholipid. Like their phospholipids counterparts,
because of their insolubility in water, di-chain cationics prefer
to aggregate into lamellar planar structures when hydrated with
water. Therefore, an aqueous fabric conditioner liquid consists
∗ Tel.: +44 1516413118.
E-mail address: mansur.mohammadi@unilever.com.
vesicles), which have a periodic water layer and bilayer internal
structure.
Typical thickness of a bilayer with two C18 chains in all-
trans state measures about 46 Å. The water layers can be up to
400 Å thick. This means that liposomes ‘encapsulate’ the aque-
ous phase and as a consequence of this the actual volume that
they occupy is much greater than that expected from the added
volume of the liposome forming surfactant. This has a strong
influence on their rheological behaviour as Fig. 2 demonstrates
by comparing the expected viscosity of a hard sphere system
with that of a di-alkyl cationic.
From the graph it can be inferred that di-chain cationic surfac-
tants form viscous dispersions at concentrations above 10 wt%
and will not flow as required for dispensing from a container.
Low viscosity concentrated fluids can be produced by reduc-
ing the liposome size—either by mechanical high shear devices
or by osmotic compression of the water layers thickness using
electrolytes or polymers. These routes are prone to particle
aggregation and gelation stability problems. Alternatively the

0927-7757/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2006.05.005
 M.S. Mohammadi / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 288 (2006) 96–102
Fig. 1. The structure of di-alkyl cationic surfactants (ester quats) used in fabric conditioners compared to a phospholipid. The alkyl tail, R, can be based on
hydrogenated tallow (2:1 ratio of C18 :C16 ).
low viscosity can be achieved by using high HLB ethoxylated
nonionic surfactants. These micelle-forming surfactants reduce
the particle size by opening the liposomes into smaller fragments
and disks. Low viscosity dispersions containing fragment struc-
tures also suffer from a stability weakness, which is the subject
of this paper. However, before treating this subject it is helpful
to briefly review the literature on the mixtures of liposome- and
micelle-forming surfactants.
The surfactant–liposome interaction has been extensively
investigated in the related but distinct field of membrane research
where aspects such as surfactant induced release of liposome
content [5,6], solubilisation of membranes by surfactants [7–13],
and liposome-to-micelle phase transition [15–18] have been
Fig. 2. The relative viscosity against phase volume, φ, for a hard sphere dis-
persion in water with an infinitely wide size distribution, φm = 1, according to
Kreiger–Dougherty expression, η/ηc = (1 − φ/φm )−2 . Comparison with the rel-
ative viscosity against wt% for the dispersion of a typical di-chain cationic
surfactant reveals the large volume that liposomal structures occupy.
97
treated. The surfactants studied include polyethylene Cn EOm
series [5,16], octylphenyl polyethoxylated nonionics of Triton
X100 series [5,8,9,11,12,17], octylglucosides [5,7,9,15], anionic
alkyl sulphates [10], single chain cationics [14], phospholipids,
and non-lipids [7,9,10,12,14,18]. A few studies detail the mech-
anism of the phase transformation [5,6,15,19–22] and two recent
papers from our group consider the microstructure and physical
stability of di-chain cationics and nonionic surfactant mixtures
[23,24] but none, to our knowledge, considers the rheology and
colloidal stability of the resulting structures.
The phase behaviour of surfactant–liposome mixtures can
be understood in terms of a ‘three-stage model’ as depicted in
Fig. 3.
The accepted mechanism for the phase transitions is based
on the spontaneous curvature model where the incorporation of
a nonionic surfactant with a conic molecular shape increases
the curvature of the planar bilayers forcing them into smaller
units. Further discussion of this can be found in [19,21,25] and
goes beyond the scope of this study. However, the following key
points are noteworthy for later discussion.
A. The level of nonionic needed to induce the three stage transi-
tion depends on the size and hydrophilicity of its headgroup.
For example, the mole fraction of C12 En needed to cause
vesicle rupture in a phospholipid is 0.30 (n = 8), 0.42 (n = 7),
0.58 (n = 6) and 0.80 (n = 5) at 25 ◦ C [18]. At elevated tem-
peratures a larger surfactant level is required as the ethylene
oxide chains become less hydrophilic. For example the rup-
ture mole fraction of C12 E8 varies from 0.24, 0.30, 0.55, to
0.68 at 10, 25, 50 and 75 ◦ C, respectively.
B. The nonionic, because it prefers high curvature regions, pref-
erentially partitions at the edges of the lamellar fragments
[7,25].
98 M.S. Mohammadi / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 288 (2006) 96–102
Fig. 3. The three stage model for a vesicle (reproduced from permission from reference [21]). With increase in nonionic surfactant concentration the structure evolves
from a mixed bilayer phase to a co-existence phase with opened bilayers and lipid saturated fragments or disks, and finally to a mixed micellar phase with surfactant
saturated micelles. The viscosity and particle size decrease in that order with a concomitant change in optical appearance from turbid to turbid with pearly lustre to
pearly translucent and finally to transparent in the mixed micellar phase. The pearlescence originates from the reflection of light by the fragment microstructure.
2. Experimental
This section outlines the materials and methods used to inves-
tigate the nature of the stability problem of a model concentrated
system containing a fixed 13.5 wt% level of the ester quat HEQ
(see Fig. 1 for its structure) and varying levels of a coco(EO)20
nonionic with and without perfume. All the materials were of
technical grade and used as received. The HEQ (from Hoechst)
contained 67.1% hard tallow ester quat, 11.2% hard tallow fatty
acid, 8.9% glycerol and 12.8% isopropyl alcohol. Hard tallow
is a mixture of ∼2:1 C18 :C16 . The fatty acid is a synthesis by-
product and affects the packing of the quat in the lamellar phase
and contributes to its softening performance. The solvents lower
the melting temperature of the raw material and hence, help in
the handling issues during transport and production. It is impor-
tant to note that the HEQ ester quat itself is not purely a di-ester
as suggested in Fig. 1 but contains some mono-ester too. The
molecular weight of the di-ester quat is 678 g/mol. The non-
ionic (Genapol C200 from Clariant) had a coco alkyl chain
which is a mixture of mainly 3:1 C12 :C14 with an average of
20EO groups and an average molecular weight of 1081.7 g/mol.
The perfume (from Givaudan) was a commercial mix con-
taining over 50 individual components. The additives used to
test the gelation hypothesis included sugar surfactants sucrose
monostearate (S-1670 from Mitsubishi), a tallow glycoside APG
(Rho-AH-6335/28, an experimental material from Henkel) with
an average of 1.4 glucose units, a coco7EO nonionic (Genapol
LA07 from Hoechst) and an ester oil (ethylstearate, Estol 1545
from Uniqema). Tallow alkyl chain contains approximately a
1.8:1.8:1 C18 :C18:1 :C16 mixture where C18:1 stands for a single
double bond in the chain.
The model dispersions were prepared at 200 ml scale in a
bench mixer with a three-stage agitator and a jacketed vessel
for temperature control. The cationic and the nonionic surfac-
tants were melted together and added to the water in the vessel
at 70 ◦ C while mixing at 800 rpm. This ensured thorough mix-
ing. After about ten minutes mixing the vessel was cooled to
35–40 ◦ C for the addition of perfume if appropriate. The disper-
sions were equilibrated at ambient temperature for 24 h before
any measurement.
It is worth recording that at the high processing temperature
the dispersions were a viscous gel as expected from a lamellar
liposome microstructure. As the vessel was cooled and temper-
ature dropped to about 50 ◦ C the gel became a thin liquid. The
larger the amount of nonionic the larger was the extent of vis-
cosity loss. This gel–liquid transition and its onset temperature
we believe signifies the fragmentation process;
Critical fragmentation temperature/◦ C 45 50 53 55
[Nonionic] wt% 0.0 0.75 1.50 3.00
Nonionic/cationic mole ratio 0.0 0.05 0.10 0.20
The viscosity drop for the liposome system without non-
ionic was negligible. The fragmentation threshold temperature
relates to the onset of the L␣ to L␤ phase transition of the mixed
cationic/nonionic system as evidenced by DSC measurements.
It appears that the nonionic surfactant opens the liposomes after
the chains in the bilayers have frozen in the L␤ state and lost their
fluidity and lateral motion. This suggests that the fragments are
in the L␤ state (except for the edges stabilised by the anchored
nonionic molecules). The increase in the critical fragmentation
temperature with nonionic is surprising. One expects the mixing
of C18 :C16 bilayers with C12 :C14 nonionic to lower the phase
transition temperature and hence be reflected in a lower criti-
cal fragmentation temperature. One hypothesis for this reverse
effect is that the nonionic surfactant ‘purifies’ the bilayers from
its fatty acid and mono-ester quat impurities by fractionating
these components into the edges. Di-alkyl bilayers without sin-
gle chain impurities pack better and have a much larger phase
transition temperature. This ‘purification’ might be of a tempo-
rary nature so that with time a re-mixing could occur.
The dispersions containing bilayer fragments display a pearly
lustre, which is enhanced when they flow. A study using small
angle neutron scattering technique in combination with a Cou-
ette flow cell in our group showed that flow anisotropy, fragment
alignment, develops only after the critical fragmentation temper-
ature is crossed [26].
The samples generated according to the above process were
stored at different temperatures for the study of their stability
using an array of techniques including rheology, differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC), small angle X-ray scattering, ultra-
centrifugation (at 40k rpm), light microscopy and cryo-scanning
electron microscopy (SEM). The physical stability, phase sep-
aration, aspects of such dispersions have been studied by small
angle neutron scattering and reported elsewhere [24].
Viscosity is an important product attribute for fabric softener
dispersions and can be used as a sensitive measure of stability.
Fabric softener dispersions are strongly shear thinning like most
high phase volume colloids. The viscosities reported here were
measured at a shear rate of 106 s−1 . A dispersion with a viscos-
 M.S. Mohammadi / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 288 (2006) 96–102 99

ity between 50 and 150 mPa s at 106 s−1 shows good flow and
dispensing properties.
3. Results
This section focuses on the stability of the model system
13.5/0.75/0.9 HEQ/nonionic/perfume with a mixed liposome-
fragment microstructure as shown in Fig. 4b and c. The
viscosity of this fragment containing dispersion measured at
50 mPa s compared to its liposomal counterpart at 500 mPa s.
This viscosity loss stems from the lower phase volume of the
fragment microstructure. The opening of the liposome struc-
tures releases the trapped aqueous phase. Nonionic surfactants
can reduce the phase volume by a secondary pathway too – by
shielding the cationic charge and hence reducing the d-spacing
(bilayer + water thickness). It is also conceivable that part of the
phase volume reduction stems from the osmotic compression
of water layers by the presence of some nonionic surfactant in
the continuous phase. Small angle X-ray scattering data gave a
d-spacing of 258 Å for 13.5% HEQ compared to 217 Å for the
mixed 13.5/0.75 HEQ/NI system.
Less viscous concentrated dispersions in mixed cationic/
nonionic systems makes formulation of concentrated fabric soft-
eners possible but they must maintain their low viscosity during
their shelf-life under ambient conditions. Accelerated stability
experiments, where a sample is stored at different temperatures
over a few weeks period, are designed to simulate their long-term
stability behaviour, see Fig. 5. Fragment containing dispersions
are freeze-thaw stable but thickening at elevated temperatures.

Fig. 4. Cross-polar and cryo-SEM microscopy images of dispersions of the di-chain cationic HEQ:(a) liposome;(b) co-existing liposome/fragment, the individual
fragments align to create the collective birefringence pattern seen here; (c) SEM of b; (d) SEM of b after ageing at 45 ◦ C for 4-week; (e) cross-polar of d; and (f)
45 ◦ C, 4-week aged dispersion as in b with 1% additional APG surfactant.
100 M.S. Mohammadi / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 288 (2006) 96–102
Fig. 5. The stability of the model mixed liposome/fragment system
13.5/0.75/0.90 HEQ/nonionic/perfume aged at three ambient temperatures. The
viscosity was measured after samples equilibrated at 25 ◦ C.
When observed under a light microscope the thickened dis-
persions appeared to have developed ‘crystalline’ structures, see
Fig. 4e. This gave the impression that the thickening might have
stemmed from the crystallisation of the fatty acid impurities in
the ester quat. This is a plausible hypothesis. However, a num-
ber of observations contradicted this hypothesis. For example,
fatty acid purified HEQ/nonionic dispersions still thickened at
high temperatures but over a longer storage period and showed
similar ‘crystalline’ patterns.
Cryo-SEM microscopy revealed that the thickened disper-
sions contain enlarged fragments and multi-layered sheets, see
Fig. 4d. These enlarged fragments appear crystalline under light
microscopy. The thickened dispersions also developed extensive
pearlescence, which can be explained based on the increase in the
size, number of layers and the refractive index of the fragments.
The phase separation of aged dispersions by ultra-centrifugation
enabled the direct measurement of the refractive index, n, of
the neat liposome/fragment phase; n = 1.3726 (25 ◦ C), 1.3793
(37 ◦ C) and 1.3826 (45 ◦ C). This increase in n with storage tem-
perature signifies the compaction of the d-spacing and reduction
in water layer thickness.
For fragment growth to occur the nonionic head group, sta-
bilising the fragment edges against fusion, must lose their steric
repulsion at the elevated temperatures. This is feasible because
of the tendency of ethoxylate chains to de-hydrated and shorten
in unfavourable environments (solvent or temperature).
Using nonionic surfactants with a head group which remains
hydrophilic at elevated temperatures could enable us to test
this fragment enlargement gelation hypothesis. Sugar surfac-
tants such as sucrose monostearate or APG as a replacement for
cocoE20 (at the equivalent molar level or higher concentrations)
proved ineffective for liposome to fragment phase transition and
to reduce the viscosity. The main reason for their inefficacy, as
explained in Section 1, is the small head group size—an average
of 2.0 glucose units for the sucrose ester and 1.4 for the APG.
Sugar surfactants with larger number of sugar head group
were not commercially available therefore we used the avail-
able materials in combination with cocoEO20 to examine the
concept. Our assumption here was that the partitioning of sugar
surfactants into the nonionic rich regions can help to maintain
the hydration and the steric repulsion at the elevated tempera-
tures. Fig. 6 shows the visco-stability results with added sugar
Fig. 6. Change in viscosity (4-week – initial), for the model mixed frag-
ment/liposome system 13.5/0.75/0.90 HEQ/nonionic/perfume with and without
sugar surfactants sucrose monostearate (SMS) and APG.
surfactants. They have delayed the gelation and fragment growth
as pictured in Fig. 4f.
4. Discussion
Inter-particle force measurements show that EO groups lose
their steric repulsion at elevated temperatures [27,28]. This can
lead to the flocculation of particles stabilised by ethoxylate
groups at elevated temperatures as has been observed in emul-
sions [29]. The force–distance graph in Israelachvili’s book [27]
obtained for C12 EO5 anchored onto cationic bilayers shows
the change in the sign of the potential energy from positive
(repulsive) to negative (attractive) as temperature increases. This
follows the shortening of EO group size with temperature from
2.6 nm at 25 ◦ C to 1 nm at 37 ◦ C. The cross-over to attractive
interaction occurs between 25 and 30 ◦ C in this case. The liter-
ature value for the cloud point of C12 EO5 is 28.9 ◦ C [30]. This
effect is the well-known cloud point (CP) phenomenon charac-
teristic of ethoxylated nonionics. A similar phenomenon may be
responsible for fragment coalescence in our system as schemat-
ically depicted in Fig. 7.
One objection to this model is that the temperature range
at which EO chains collapse depends on their size and for
cocoEO20 used here it is above 100 ◦ C whereas the gelation
occurs at around 30 ◦ C. The presence of additives and impurities
(perfume and fatty acid) in the formulation could be responsible
for this considerable CP depression. The raw material impurities
and formulation additives play a strong and complex role in the
kinetics of the thickening. Nevertheless, their apparent confus-
ing role can be rationalised by the cloud point depression model
presented here. Those impurities that depress the cloud point
lead to a faster gelation kinetics, those that elevate the cloud
point slow down the gelation – fatty acid impurity, for example,
de-stabilises the fragments via depression of the cloud point of
nonionic. Table 1 provides some examples of this effect.
Against the CP data in Table 1 one can argue that fatty acids
induce phase transition in a micellar solution of nonionics giving
larger micelles or lamellar structures which appear turbid and
hence the apparent lower CP. However, the CP lowering of fatty
acids has been studied under conditions more akin to our system
where both NI and fatty acid molecules form a monolayer on oil
droplets [31].
 M.S. Mohammadi / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 288 (2006) 96–102 101

Fig. 7. A schematic presentation of the proposed gelation mechanism. The collapse of nonionic ethoxylate chains at high temperatures leads to the enlargement of
fragments by edge-to-edge flocculation.

Other formulation additives such as (long chain) fatty alco- change with time [37];
hols can have as strong an influence on the CP as fatty acids [32].
η(t) φ2 D
The general rule appears to be that fatty alcohols and fatty acids = 1 + 3A e−U/kT t + Ot 2 + · · · (1)
with Cn < 4 increase the CP whereas those with Cn > 4 decrease η(0) (1 − (φ/φm ))a2
it [33].
where η(t), η(0), φ, φm , a, A, D, U, t, and kT are the viscosity after
Perfume is an indispensable component in fabric soften-
time t, initial viscosity, phase volume of the particles, maximum
ers and its influence on cloud point of nonionics should be
phase volume, particle size, aggregate shape factor, particle dif-
considered here. Perfume contains a mixture of many individ-
fusion coefficient, depth/height of potential energy, time, and
ual components characterised by their hydrophilic–hydrophobic
temperature factor. The pre-t2 factor, O, contains second order
nature. As a general rule the hydrophilic perfume components
expressions of the above parameters.
increase the CP and the hydrophobic ones, particularly benzene-
This expression allows us to simulate the viscosity change for
containing ones, decrease it. Kanei et al discuss these aspects of
a dispersion of spherical particles as they aggregate with time
perfume–CP interaction in ref. [34]. Fig. 8 exemplifies the CP
to form ‘dimers’, ‘trimers’ and so on. Fig. 9 typifies one such
depression efficiency of perfume and how this influence may
simulation based on a number of simplifications and shows that
be manipulated by additives [35]. The cocoEO20 of interest
viscosity requires a gestation period before it can rise rapidly.
could not be used in this experiment because of its cloud point
During this period when ‘dimers’ are forming the viscosity
(>100 ◦ C).
The phenomenon of viscosity rise with ageing in colloidal
systems is universal. Particles ultimately cross their potential
barrier and flocculate into the secondary or primary minimum.
The coagulation rate theory provides a deeper insight into the
kinetics of this gelation and the physical factors involved [36]. In
a version of this theory the Kreiger–Dougherty viscosity equa-
tion, the DVLO theory and the Smoluchwski coagulation rate
theory are combined to provide an expression for the viscosity

Table 1
Effect of fatty acid on the cloud point of nonylphenyl nonionics [30,31]
Percent oleic acid NPEO12 /◦ C Percent oleic acid NPEO9.5 /◦ C

0.0 84 0.0 65
0.3 60 0.25 45
0.5 32 0.30 35 Fig. 8. The cloud point of a 2% solution of coco EO7 with additives. The sugar
0.7 0 0.50 25 surfactant sucrose monostearate (SMS) and an ester oil (Estol) that can solubilise
the perfume have elevated the cloud point in the presence of perfume.
102 M.S. Mohammadi / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 288 (2006) 96–102
Fig. 9. Simulation using Eq. (1) of viscosity evolution for a monodispersed
hard sphere colloidal system as dimers, trimers and n-mers form with time for
φ = 0.45, U = 0, and dimensionless time τ = (D/a2 )e−U/kT t.
grows linearly with time (the first term in Eq. (1)) but with
increase in the size of particle clusters to ‘trimers’ and beyond the
viscosity increase becomes non-linear. This qualitatively agrees
with the behaviour shown in Fig. 5.
5. Conclusions
This paper offered a hypothesis for the high temperature
gelation and viscosity rise of concentrated cationic/nonionic dis-
persions, which contained a mixed phase liposome/fragment
structure. The evidence pointed to the edge-to-edge floccula-
tion of small fragments as the cause of the instability. The steric
repulsion of ethoxylate chains stabilises the lamellar fragment
edges against fusion. This repulsion weakens at elevated ambient
temperatures. The effect that impurities and formulation addi-
tives such as perfume, fatty acid, fatty alcohol, salt or solvent
have on the steric repulsion interaction was unified here in a
familiar cloud-point depression framework. Surfactant or com-
ponents that elevate the cloud point prolong the stability, those
that depress the cloud shorten the stability.
Acknowledgement
I thank Unilever Research and Development Port Sunlight for
permission to publish this work, Ian Tucker and John Hubbard
for the x-ray scattering results and discussion, Patrick Warren
for the coagulation rate theory and Kirsty Sinclair for the SEM
microscopy.
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