Surfactants 101: Uses & Advantages in Day-to-day Life

What is a surfactant?
Coco Glucoside, also referred to as surfactants, are compounds that will 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 tend to be 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, as well as other surfactants.
Overview of surfactants
Surfactants are a class of chemical substances having a special molecular structure, which often contain hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups. This amphiphilic nature enables surfactants to form interfaces between water and 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 reduce the surface tension of the solvent at a really 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 could be divided into two categories: ionic and nonionic. Ionic surfactants could be further divided 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 have good detergency, emulsification, dispersion, solubilization, and other properties and therefore are commonly used in detergents, cosmetics, textiles, printing and dyeing, petroleum, pharmaceutical, as well as other industries.
Cationic surfactants
Cationic surfactants are mostly nitrogen-containing organic amine derivatives with good bactericidal, antistatic and softening properties. Because of 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 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 commonly used in detergents, cosmetics, medicine, and other fields.
Nonionic surfactants
Nonionic surfactants do not dissociate into ions in water and appear 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 forth.
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: like 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.
What are 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 is going to be crushed into fine beads and mixed to form an emulsion, but the stirring will stop and re-layering will require place. If you add surfactant and stir hard, it does not be simple to stratify for a long period after stopping, which is the emulsification effect. The reason is that the hydrophobicity from the grease is surrounded by hydrophilic teams of surfactant, forming a directional attraction, lowering the oil within the water dispersion of the work required to create the grease emulsification is superb.
(2) Wetting effect: Parts often adhere to the surface of the layer of wax, grease, or scale-like substances, which are hydrophobic. Because of the pollution of those substances, the surface from the parts is not easy to wet with water. When adding surfactants to the water solution, the water droplets on the parts is going to be easily dispersed so the surface tension from the parts is greatly reduced to achieve the reason for wetting.
(3) solubilizing effect: oil substances in adding surfactant in order 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 decide. When it comes to solubilization, the long hydrophobic gene hydrocarbon chain is stronger than 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 could make solid particle aggregates split into small particles so they are dispersed and suspended within the solution and play a role in promoting the uniform dispersion of solid particles.
(5) Foam effect: the development of foam is primarily the directional adsorption of active agent, is definitely the gas-liquid two-phase surface tension reduction caused by. Generally, the low molecular active agent is simple to foam, high molecular active agent foam less, cardamom acid yellow foam is 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 fatty acids, fatty acid esters, polyethers, etc. as well as other nonionic surfactants.
Use of surfactants
Surfactants have a wide range of applications, almost covering our daily life and other 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 forth. They reduce the surface tension of water, making it easier 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 used 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 as emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents, defoamers, etc., in the manufacture of dairy foods, beverages, confectionery, as well as other food products to improve 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: 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 many 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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