Surfactants 101: Usages & Benefits in Everyday Life

Exactly what is a surfactant?
Cationic Surfactants, also referred to as surfactants, are compounds that can significantly decrease the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, between liquids and gases, and between liquids and solids. The molecular structure of surfactants is amphoteric: hydrophilic group at one end, hydrophobic group in the other end; hydrophilic groups tend to be polar groups, such as carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid, sulfuric acid, amino or amine groups and their salts, hydroxyl, amide, ether bonds, etc., may also be used as polar hydrophilic groups; and hydrophobic groups are often nonpolar hydrocarbon chains, such as hydrocarbon chains of over eight carbon atoms. Surfactants are divided into ionic surfactants (including cationic surfactants, anionic surfactants, and amphoteric surfactants), nonionic surfactants, complex surfactants, and other surfactants.
Summary of surfactants
Surfactants really are a class of chemical substances having a special molecular structure, which usually contain hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups. This amphiphilic nature enables surfactants to create interfaces between water as well as other immiscible liquids and reduce interfacial tension, thus playing the roles of wetting, emulsifying, dispersing, solubilizing, foaming, defoaming and so forth.
Types of surfactants
Surfactant is really a special chemical substance that can significantly decrease the surface tension from the solvent at a very low concentration, thus changing the interfacial state of the system. This substance usually has both hydrophilic and lipophilic properties and may play a bridge role between two immiscible liquids, water and oil, therefore it is also known as an amphiphilic molecule.
Surfactants have a wide range of applications in many fields, such as daily life, industrial production, and scientific research. According to their different chemical structures and properties, surfactants could be split into two classes: ionic and nonionic. Ionic surfactants can be further divided into cationic, anionic, and amphoteric types.
Ionic surfactants
Anionic surfactants
Anionic surfactants would be the most generally used and most widely produced surfactants. Common anionic surfactants include salts of essential fatty acids, sulfonates, sulfate salts and phosphate salts. They have good detergency, emulsification, dispersion, solubilization, and other properties and therefore are widely used in detergents, cosmetics, textiles, printing and dyeing, petroleum, pharmaceutical, and other industries.
Cationic surfactants
Cationic surfactants are generally nitrogen-containing organic amine derivatives with good bactericidal, antistatic and softening properties. Due to their good softness and antistatic properties on fabrics, they are often used as post-treatment agents, softeners, antistatic agents and sterilizers for textiles.
Amphoteric ionic surfactants
Amphoteric ionic surfactants have both positive and negative charge groups in the molecule and show different charge properties at different pH values. These surfactants have excellent foaming, low irritation, good compatibility, and bactericidal properties and therefore are widely used in detergents, cosmetics, medicine, as well as other fields.
Nonionic surfactants
Nonionic surfactants usually do not dissociate into ions in water and exist in solution by means of neutral molecules or micro ions. These surfactants are highly stable, not easily impacted by strong electrolytes and, acids and bases, and are suitable for other types of surfactants. Common nonionic surfactants include polyethylene glycol type, polyol type, fluorinated surfactants and silicone type. They may be widely used in detergents, emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents and so on.
Examples of surfactants:
Ionic surfactants
Anionic surfactants: e.g. sodium essential fatty acids, alkyl sulfates, etc.
Cationic surfactants: e.g. quaternary ammonium salts, amine salts, etc.
Amphoteric ionic surfactants: e.g. amino acid type, betaine type, etc.
Nonionic surfactants
Polyoxyethylene ether type: such as fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether.
Polyol type: e.g. glycerol ester, sorbitol ester, etc.
Amine oxide type: like dimethylamine oxide, etc.
Special types of surfactants
Polymer surfactants: surfactants with higher molecular chain structure.
Bio-surfactants: such as phospholipids, glycolipids and other surfactants of natural biological origin.
Do you know the main functions of surfactants?
(1) Emulsification: Because of the large surface tension of grease in water, when grease is dripped in to the water and stirred vigorously, the grease will be crushed into fine beads and mixed to create an emulsion, however the stirring will stop and re-layering will take place. In the event you add surfactant and stir hard, it will not be simple to stratify for a long period after stopping, which is the emulsification effect. The reason is that the hydrophobicity of the grease is encompassed by hydrophilic groups of surfactant, forming a directional attraction, reducing the oil in the water dispersion from the work required to make the grease emulsification is very good.
(2) Wetting effect: Parts often adhere to the surface of the layer of wax, grease, or scale-like substances, that are hydrophobic. Because of the pollution of these substances, the surface of the parts is not easy to wet with water. When adding surfactants towards the water solution, the water droplets on the parts will be easily dispersed so that the surface tension of the parts is cut down tremendously to achieve the reason for wetting.
(3) solubilizing effect: oil substances in the addition of surfactant to be able to dissolve, but this dissolution can only occur when the power of surfactant reaches the critical power of colloid, the size of the solubility based on solubilizing objects and properties to determine. In terms of solubilization, the long hydrophobic gene hydrocarbon chain is stronger compared to the short hydrocarbon chain, the saturated hydrocarbon chain is stronger than the unsaturated hydrocarbon chain, as well as the solubilization effect of nonionic surfactants is generally more significant.
(4) Dispersing effect: Dust, dirt, and other solid particles are easy to gather together and settle in water; surfactant molecules could make solid particle aggregates split into small particles so they are dispersed and suspended in the solution and play a role to advertise the uniform dispersion of solid particles.
(5) Foam effect: the development of foam is mainly the directional adsorption of active agent, is definitely the gas-liquid two-phase surface tension reduction brought on by. Generally, the reduced molecular active agent is simple to foam, high molecular active agent foam less, cardamom acid yellow foam is definitely the highest, sodium stearate foam is the worst, anionic active agent foam and foam stability than nonionic good, like sodium alkyl benzene sulfonate foam is very strong. Usually used foam stabilizers are fatty alcohol amide, carboxymethyl cellulose, etc. Foam inhibitors are essential fatty acids, fatty acid esters, polyethers, etc. as well as other nonionic surfactants.
Application of surfactants
Surfactants have an array of applications, almost covering our daily life and other industrial production fields. The following are some of the main applications of surfactants:
Detergents and cosmetics: Surfactants are essential ingredients in detergents and cosmetics, like laundry detergents, liquid detergents, shampoos, shower gels, moisturizing lotions and so forth. They decrease the surface tension of water, making it easier for stains to be removed from the surface of objects while providing a wealthy lather and lubricating sensation.
Textile industry: Within the textile industry, surfactants are used as softeners, wetting agents, antistatic agents, dispersants, leveling agents and, color fixing agents, etc., which assist in improving the quality of textiles and improve the uniformity of dyeing and color vividness.
Food industry: Surfactants can be used as emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents, defoamers, etc., in the manufacture of dairy products, beverages, confectionery, and other food products to improve their stability and taste.
Agriculture and pesticides: In agriculture, surfactants can enhance the wetting and dispersion of pesticides, thus improving their insecticidal effect. They can also be used as soil conditioners to enhance soil water retention and permeability.
Petroleum industry: Along the way of oil extraction and processing, surfactants can be used emulsion breakers, oil repellents, anti-waxing agents, and enhancement of recovery, etc., which assist in improving the efficiency of oil extraction and processing.
Pharmaceutical industry: In the pharmaceutical industry, surfactants can be used to prepare emulsions, suppositories, aerosols, tablets, injections, etc., playing the role of emulsification, solubilization, wetting, dispersion and penetration.
Additionally, surfactants play a vital role in lots of industries, like construction, paint, paper, leather, and metal processing. Their application in these fields is mainly realized by improving product processing performance, enhancing product quality, and reducing production costs.
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