Surfactants 101: Usages & Benefits in Everyday Life

What is a surfactant?
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, 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 at the opposite end; hydrophilic groups are often 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, 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 lower interfacial tension, thus playing the roles of wetting, emulsifying, dispersing, solubilizing, foaming, defoaming and so on.
Types of surfactants
Surfactant is a special chemical substance that can significantly reduce the surface tension of the solvent in a very 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 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 can be split 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 most 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, and other properties and are widely 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. 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 good and bad 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 in the form 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 are commonly used in detergents, emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents and so on.
Examples 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: like 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 create an emulsion, but 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. This is because the hydrophobicity from the grease is surrounded by hydrophilic groups of surfactant, forming a directional attraction, reducing the oil within the water dispersion from the work required 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, that are hydrophobic. Due to the pollution of these 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 is going to be easily dispersed so the surface tension from the parts is greatly reduced to achieve the purpose of wetting.
(3) solubilizing effect: oil substances in the addition of surfactant to be able to dissolve, but this dissolution could only occur once the power of surfactant reaches the critical power of colloid, the dimensions of the solubility according to solubilizing objects and properties to determine. In terms of 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, as well as the solubilization effect of nonionic surfactants is generally more significant.
(4) Dispersing effect: Dust, dirt, as well as other solid particles are easy 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 in the solution and play a role to advertise the uniform dispersion of solid particles.
(5) Foam effect: the formation of foam is primarily the directional adsorption of active agent, is definitely the gas-liquid two-phase surface tension reduction brought on by. Generally, the low molecular active agent is easy to foam, high molecular active agent foam less, cardamom acid yellow foam is the highest, sodium stearate foam is definitely the worst, anionic active agent foam and foam stability than nonionic good, such as 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. 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 among the main uses 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 on. They reduce the surface tension of water, making it simpler for stains to become taken off 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 help to improve the caliber of textiles and enhance the uniformity of dyeing and color vividness.
Food industry: Surfactants can be used as emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents, defoamers, etc., in the creation of dairy foods, beverages, confectionery, as well as 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 enhance soil water retention and permeability.
Petroleum industry: In the process 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: Within 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.
Additionally, surfactants play an important role in lots of industries, like 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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