Photorheologically reversible micelle composed of polymerizable cationic surfactant and 4-phenylazo benzoic acid

A photorheologically reversible micelle composed of polymerizable cationic surfactant n-cetyl dimethylallyl am- monium chloride （CDAAC） and trans-4-phenylazo benzoic acid （trans-ACA） was prepared. The effects of molar ratio of CDAAC/trans-ACA, time of UV and visible light irradiation and temperature on the rheological properties of micellar system were investigated. The results show that before UV irradiation the system with an optimum CDAAC/trans-ACA molar ratio of 1.4 forms viscoelastic micelles at 45 ℃. After 365 nm UV irradiation, the viscos- ities of micelle systems with different concentrations at fixed molar ratio of 1.4 are decreased by 85%-95%. The CDAAC/trans-ACA （14 mmol. L- 1/10 mmol. L- 1 ） micelle system exhibits shear thinning property and its viscos- ity is decreased obviously with the increases of UV irradiation time less than I h. The rheological process during LIV irradiation for CDAAC/trans-ACA （14 mmol- L- 1/10 mmol. L 1） micelle proves that viscosity, elastic modulus G＇ and viscous modulus G＂ will reduce quickly with the UV light. Furthermore, the micelle system after 1 h UV- irradiation is able to revert to its initial high viscosity with 460 nm visible light irradiation for 4 h, and the micelle can be cycled between low and high viscosity states by repetitive UV and visible light irradiations. The LIV-Vis spectra of CDAAC/trans-ACA micelle indicate that its photosensitive theological properties are related closely to photoisomerization of trans-ACA to c/s-ACA.