Surfactants 101: Applications & Advantages in Daily Life

Exactly what is a surfactant?
Amphoteric 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 are often polar groups, like carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid, sulfuric acid, amino or amine groups and their salts, hydroxyl, amide, ether bonds, etc., can also be used as polar hydrophilic groups; and hydrophobic groups are often nonpolar hydrocarbon chains, such as hydrocarbon chains of more than 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 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 lower interfacial tension, thus playing the roles of wetting, emulsifying, dispersing, solubilizing, foaming, defoaming and so on.
Types of surfactants
Surfactant is really a special chemical substance that will 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, so it is also referred to as an amphiphilic molecule.
Surfactants have an array of applications in many fields, such as daily life, industrial production, and scientific research. Based on their different chemical structures and properties, surfactants can 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 are the most generally used and many 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, as well as 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. Because of 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 good and bad 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 therefore are compatible with 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: like dimethylamine oxide, etc.
Special types of surfactants
Polymer surfactants: surfactants with higher molecular chain structure.
Bio-surfactants: like phospholipids, glycolipids and other surfactants of natural biological origin.
What are the main functions of surfactants?
(1) Emulsification: Due to 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 take place. If you add surfactant and stir hard, it will not be easy to stratify for a long period after stopping, the emulsification effect. This is because the hydrophobicity from the grease is encompassed by hydrophilic teams of surfactant, forming a directional attraction, reducing the oil within the water dispersion from the work needed to create the grease emulsification is very good.
(2) Wetting effect: Parts often follow the surface of a layer of wax, grease, or scale-like substances, which are hydrophobic. Due to the pollution of those substances, the surface of the parts can be difficult to wet with water. When adding surfactants towards the water solution, the water droplets on the parts will be easily dispersed so the surface tension of the parts is cut down tremendously to get the reason for wetting.
(3) solubilizing effect: oil substances in adding surfactant in order to dissolve, but this dissolution could only occur once the concentration of surfactant reaches the critical power of colloid, the dimensions of the solubility based on solubilizing objects and properties to decide. 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, 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 that they are dispersed and suspended within 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 brought on 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 very strong. Usually used foam stabilizers are fatty alcohol amide, carboxymethyl cellulose, etc. Foam inhibitors are fatty acids, fatty acid esters, polyethers, etc. and other nonionic surfactants.
Use of surfactants
Surfactants have a wide range of applications, almost covering our daily life and various industrial production fields. These are some of the main uses of surfactants:
Detergents and cosmetics: Surfactants are important ingredients in detergents and cosmetics, such as 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 become removed from the surface of objects while providing a rich 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 improve the uniformity of dyeing and color vividness.
Food industry: Surfactants can be used emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents, defoamers, etc., within the manufacture of dairy products, 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 may also be used as soil conditioners to improve soil water retention and permeability.
Petroleum industry: In the process of oil extraction and processing, surfactants can be used as 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 may be used to prepare emulsions, suppositories, aerosols, tablets, injections, etc., playing the role of emulsification, solubilization, wetting, dispersion and penetration.
In addition, surfactants play a vital role in lots of industries, like construction, paint, paper, leather, and metal processing. Their application in these fields is primarily realized by improving product processing performance, enhancing product quality, and reducing production costs.
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