What are Surfactants?
Surfactant refers to a substance that can significantly reduce the surface tension of a target solution. It has fixed hydrophilic and lipophilic groups and can be directionally arranged on the surface of the solution. The molecular structure of surfactants is amphiphilic: one end is a hydrophilic group and the other end is a hydrophobic group; the hydrophilic group is often a polar group, such as carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid, sulfuric acid, amino or amine group and its salts, hydroxyl groups, amide groups, ether bonds, etc. can also be used as polar hydrophilic groups; while hydrophobic groups are often non-polar hydrocarbon chains, such as hydrocarbon chains with more than 8 carbon atoms. Surfactants are divided into ionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants, etc.
What are the Applications of Surfactants in Personal Care Products?
Surfactants are surface-active chemicals found in a wide range of personal care products. In the beauty and personal care sectors, surfactants are used in products such as shampoos, soaps, facial cleansers and body washes.
Anionic surfactants are commonly used in cosmetics, including fatty acid soaps, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, and soy lecithin. They have strong cleaning and decontamination capabilities and are mainly used in cosmetics for cleaning, moisturizing, emulsifying and foaming. Cationic surfactants are mainly high-carbon alkyl ammonium salts, such as octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride, disoctadecyldimethylsodium chloride, etc. It has bactericidal and antistatic properties and plays the role of softness, antistatic, waterproof and color fixation in cosmetics. Commonly used zwitterionic surfactants include cocamidopropyl betaine, imidazoline, etc. Amphoteric surfactants have good detergent properties, are mild, low-toxic and irritating to skin and eyes, and have good biodegradability. It is often used in combination with anionic or cationic surfactants to produce a synergistic effect, and plays the role of softening, antistatic, emulsifying, dispersing and sterilizing in cosmetics. Commonly used nonionic surfactants include sorbitan monolaurate, laureth polyoxyethylene ether, coco acid diethanolamide, etc. These nonionic surfactants are safe, mild, non-irritating, have good emulsification, solubilization and high stability, and have good compatibility with other types of surfactants. Therefore, it is widely used in cosmetics.
What are the Applications of Surfactants in Household Cleaners?
Detergents are one of the most common and widely used household cleaning products that use surfactants. It can be used for cleaning clothes, tableware, floors and other aspects. Detergents are divided into synthetic and natural ones. Synthetic detergents are mainly composed of sodium alkyl benzene sulfonate, calcium alkyl benzene sulfonate, sodium alkyl sulfonate and other ingredients. Softener is also a surfactant-rich household cleaning product. Adding softener to the washing machine can make clothes soft and comfortable, and increase the stiffness and feel of fabrics. Softeners include not only surfactants, but also lubricants, dyes, fragrances and anti-static ingredients. The ingredients of hand sanitizer are also mainly surfactants.
What are the Applications of Surfactants in Food Industry?
Surfactants are widely used in the food industry. Adding surfactants to some food production can greatly improve processing conditions, improve product quality, and extend the shelf life of food. For example, if there is no surfactant in the production of ice cream, the structure of the product cannot be controlled and the expansion rate cannot be increased. The main functions of surfactants in food are as emulsifiers and thickeners. They can also be used as dispersants, wetting agents, foaming agents, defoaming agents, crystallization control agents, bactericides, etc. When surfactants are used as dispersants and wetting agents, they can improve the hydrophilicity and dispersibility of powdered foods such as milk powder and cocoa powder.
