Surfactant

Recent Examples on the Web Its foaming texture comes from surfactants, which can be drying for non-oily skin. — Nicole Cain Nd, Ma, Health, 27 Apr. 2023 Instead the smoothing came when the researchers added surfactants. — Lauren J. Young, Scientific American, 26 Apr. 2023 Unlike traditional face washes that contain higher levels of surfactant to strip makeup and dirt from your skin, cleansing oils keep your skin moisturized while purifying and are less likely to irritate sensitive skin. — goodhousekeeping.com, 21 Apr. 2023 These products often contain extra surfactants and phosphates to help combat mineral build-up on clothes, as well as brighteners that keep colors vibrant. — Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 8 Apr. 2023 Created from the residue of pressed palm oil, Bio IOS was developed with sustainability in mind and is the world’s first real sustainable surfactant in 50 years. — Kao Contributor, Forbes, 9 Aug. 2022 Dear Readers: What is a surfactant? — Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2020 Its unique, natural surfactants provide an effective clean that can remove even the toughest stains while being gentle on fabrics. — Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 3 Apr. 2023 The other, colored black, has no surfactant. — Tess Joosse, Science | AAAS, 24 Mar. 2021 See More These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'surfactant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.

Grab your lab coat. Let's get started Welcome! Welcome! Create an account below to get 6 C&EN articles per month, receive newsletters and more - all free. It seems this is your first time logging in online. Please enter the following information to continue. As an ACS member you automatically get access to this site. All we need is few more details to create your reading experience. ACS’s Premium Package gives you full access to C&EN and everything the ACS Community has to offer. • Unlimited access to C&EN’s daily news coverage on cen.acs.org • Weekly delivery of the C&EN Magazine in print or digital format • Access to our • Significant discounts on registration for most ACS-sponsored meetings As personal care product makers go green, surfactants are at the center of their efforts. Cleansers, lotions, and cosmetics all need surfactants to mix oils and water—either to hold the formulations together or to provide dirt-and-grease-removing power. But many surfactants today are synthetic or semisynthetic. In response to a customer base that is increasingly concerned about sustainability, major brands are pledging to cut their carbon emissions and eliminate fossil-derived carbon in their products. Chemical firms are responding with biobased surfactants and ways to make existing products from biomass feedstocks. Those goals are also broader than just carbon dioxide emissions. When people buy personal care products, brand owners say, they are also looking for biodegradability, low...

Surfactants are the most versatile products of the chemical industry. They are utilized in every industrial area ranging from household detergents to drilling muds and food items to pharmaceuticals. The term surfactant comes from the word surface active agent. They are amphiphilic molecules and are thus absorbed in the air-water interface. At the interface, they align themselves so that the hydrophobic part is in the air and the hydrophilic part is in water. This will cause a decrease in surface or interfacial tensions. Surfactant basics As said, surfactants are amphiphilic molecules that have hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts. The hydrophobic tail is a hydrocarbon, fluorocarbon, or siloxane. Surfactants are typically classified based on their polar head as the hydrophobic tails are often similar. If the head group has no charge, the surfactant is called non-ionic. If the head group has a negative or positive charge, it is called anionic or cationic, respectively. If it contains both positive and negative groups, then the surfactant is called zwitterionic. Anionic and nonionic surfactants are by far the most used surfactant types in the industry. Anionic surfactant finds use, especially in cleaning products like laundry detergents and shampoos. Nonionic surfactants on the other hand are often used as wetting agents and in the food industry. Both cationic and zwitterionic surfactants are more for special use as they are more expensive to produce. Surfactants absorb at inter...

Surfactant Structure Surfactant molecules are usually organic compounds that contain hydrophobic groups or "tails" and hydrophilic groups or "heads." This allows the molecule to interact with both water (a polar molecule) and oils (which are nonpolar). A group of surfactant molecules forms a micelle. A micelle is a spherical structure. In a micelle, the hydrophobic or lipophilic tails face inward, while the hydrophilic heads face outward. Oils and fats can be contained within the micelle sphere. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "What Is a Surfactant?" ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/definition-of-surfactant-605928. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. (2020, August 28). What Is a Surfactant? Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-surfactant-605928 Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "What Is a Surfactant?" ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-surfactant-605928 (accessed June 15, 2023). When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting

Surfactant adsorption is driven by concentration and amphiphilic properties of surfactant as well as surface properties such as charge, defects, and composition. A large quantity of research literature describes the adsorption performance of a wide array of surfactants. The hydrophilic–hydrophobic nature of surfactants results in interfacial adsorption and aggregation. Surfactants tend to form submonolayer, monolayer/hemimicelle, or bilayer/cylindrical micelle structures at interfaces and surfaces. The concentration needed to achieve monolayer coverage is usually close to the critical micelle concentration (cmc) for the surfactant. Aggregation of surfactant above the cmc leads to the formation of spherical micelles and other structures. These structures act like a buffer that maintains the free monomeric surfactant molecule concentration constant when the total surfactant concentration exceeds the level needed for micelle formation. The free monomeric surfactant concentration determines the level of adsorption on a surface. It is possible to predict surfactant adsorption based on material properties, surfactant properties such as hydrocarbon chain length, and solution conditions such as pH and ionic strength. There are several challenges to more accurate fundamental modeling and predictions of surfactant adsorption, aggregation, and partitioning. These challenges are discussed. • Previous chapter in book • Next chapter in book • About ScienceDirect • Remote access • Shoppi...