Surfactants 101: Applications & Advantages in Daily Life

What is a surfactant?
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, also known as surfactants, are compounds that can significantly reduce 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 at the opposite end; hydrophilic groups tend to be polar groups, like carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid, sulfuric acid, amino or amine groups as well as their salts, hydroxyl, amide, ether bonds, etc., may also be used as polar hydrophilic groups; and hydrophobic groups tend to be nonpolar hydrocarbon chains, such as hydrocarbon chains of over eight carbon atoms. Surfactants are split into ionic surfactants (including cationic surfactants, anionic surfactants, and amphoteric surfactants), nonionic surfactants, complex surfactants, as well as other surfactants.
Overview of surfactants
Surfactants really are a class of chemical substances with 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 will significantly decrease the surface tension of the solvent in a really low concentration, thus changing the interfacial state from the system. This substance usually has both hydrophilic and lipophilic properties and may play a bridge role between two immiscible liquids, water and oil, so it is also referred to as an amphiphilic molecule.
Surfactants have an array of applications in lots of fields, like daily life, industrial production, and scientific research. According to their different chemical structures and properties, surfactants can be divided into two classes: ionic and nonionic. Ionic surfactants could be further split into cationic, anionic, and amphoteric types.
Ionic surfactants
Anionic surfactants
Anionic surfactants are the most widely used and many widely produced surfactants. Common anionic surfactants include salts of fatty acids, sulfonates, sulfate salts and phosphate salts. They may have good detergency, emulsification, dispersion, solubilization, as well as other properties and therefore are commonly used in detergents, cosmetics, textiles, printing and dyeing, petroleum, pharmaceutical, and other industries.
Cationic surfactants
Cationic surfactants are mostly nitrogen-containing organic amine derivatives with good bactericidal, antistatic and softening properties. Due to their good softness and antistatic properties on fabrics, they are usually 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 within 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, and 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 commonly used in detergents, emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents and so on.
Types of surfactants:
Ionic surfactants
Anionic surfactants: e.g. sodium 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: such as dimethylamine oxide, etc.
Special types of surfactants
Polymer surfactants: surfactants with higher molecular chain structure.
Bio-surfactants: such as phospholipids, glycolipids as well as 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 form an emulsion, however the stirring will stop and re-layering will require place. In the event you add surfactant and stir hard, it will not be easy to stratify for a long period after stopping, which is the emulsification effect. The reason is that the hydrophobicity of the grease is surrounded by hydrophilic groups of surfactant, forming a directional attraction, lowering the oil within the water dispersion of the work required to create the grease emulsification is very good.
(2) Wetting effect: Parts often follow the surface of the layer of wax, grease, or scale-like substances, that are hydrophobic. Because of the pollution of those substances, the surface of the parts can be difficult to wet with water. When adding surfactants to the water solution, the water droplets around the parts will be easily dispersed so that the surface tension from the parts is cut down tremendously to get the reason for wetting.
(3) solubilizing effect: oil substances in adding surfactant to be able to dissolve, but this dissolution can only occur when the concentration of surfactant reaches the critical concentration of colloid, the size of the solubility according to solubilizing objects and properties to determine. When it comes to solubilization, the long hydrophobic gene hydrocarbon chain is stronger than the short hydrocarbon chain, the saturated hydrocarbon chain is stronger compared to the unsaturated hydrocarbon chain, and the solubilization effect of nonionic surfactants is generally more significant.
(4) Dispersing effect: Dust, dirt, and other solid particles are simple to gather together and settle in water; surfactant molecules can make solid particle aggregates split into small particles so they are dispersed and suspended in the solution and play a role in promoting the uniform dispersion of solid particles.
(5) Foam effect: the formation of foam is primarily the directional adsorption of active agent, is the gas-liquid two-phase surface tension reduction caused by. Generally, the reduced molecular active agent is easy to foam, high molecular active agent foam less, cardamom acid yellow foam is definitely the highest, sodium stearate foam is definitely the worst, anionic active agent foam and foam stability than nonionic good, like sodium alkyl benzene sulfonate foam is extremely strong. Usually used foam stabilizers are fatty alcohol amide, carboxymethyl cellulose, etc. Foam inhibitors are fatty acids, fatty acid esters, polyethers, etc. as well as other nonionic surfactants.
Application of surfactants
Surfactants have a wide range of applications, almost covering our daily life and other industrial production fields. These are among the main applications of surfactants:
Detergents and cosmetics: Surfactants are important ingredients in detergents and cosmetics, like laundry detergents, liquid detergents, shampoos, shower gels, moisturizing lotions and so on. They reduce the surface tension of water, making it simpler for stains to be taken off the surface of objects while providing a wealthy lather and lubricating sensation.
Textile industry: In the textile industry, surfactants are utilized as softeners, wetting agents, antistatic agents, dispersants, leveling agents and, color fixing agents, etc., which assist in improving the caliber of textiles and enhance the uniformity of dyeing and color vividness.
Food industry: Surfactants can be used emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents, defoamers, etc., in the manufacture of dairy foods, beverages, confectionery, and other food products to enhance their stability and taste.
Agriculture and pesticides: In agriculture, surfactants can improve the wetting and dispersion of pesticides, thus improving their insecticidal effect. They can also be used as soil conditioners to improve 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 help to improve the efficiency of oil extraction and processing.
Pharmaceutical industry: Within 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 many industries, such as construction, paint, paper, leather, and metal processing. Their application during these fields is mainly realized by improving product processing performance, enhancing product quality, and reducing production costs.
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