There are various compounds present in this universe, with varying chemical and physical components, Surfactants are one of them. These compounds decrease the surface tension of liquids, these compounds also reduce the surface tension between various liquids and in some cases even between a solid and a liquid. These compounds are used worldwide in the form of various detergents, foaming agents and emulsifiers. Surfactant can be considered as an amphiphilic molecule because the molecule contains both hydrophobic hydrocarbon tail and hydrophilic head, these are the two major parts present in a surfactant molecule. A surfactant molecule contains a water soluble part and a water insoluble part which basically means oil soluble part.
There are various types of surfactants.
- Anionic Surfactants - These compounds contain negatively charged ions also called as anions and therefore are insoluble at very low temperatures, these contain hydrophobic anion which comes in effect when it is dissolved in warm or hot water. These surfactants are commonly used as soaps, silicones and it can also be used as alkyl sulfonates. These surfactants are very commonly used in industries for manufacturing of detergents and cleaning agents and are also used for corrosion prevention.
- Non-Ionic Surfactants - These compounds do not show the presence of ionization when dissolved in a liquid and therefore these surfactants are considered to be highly stable and they have very limited reaction with acids or concentrated electrolytes. These compounds constitute about 50% of the total surfactant production because they are highly stable and therefore these surfactants have better emulsifying capability and therefore it can easily remove any oily or organic dirt.
- Cationic Surfactants - These are positively charged compounds and therefore these compounds do not showcase the presence of effective cleansing agents and therefore these compounds are least used as detergents or as emulsifiers. These surfactants can be used as cleansing agents only after mixing it with fabric softeners which helps the surfactant to break down stain particles.
- Amphoteric Surfactants - These surfactants constitute the chemical properties of both Anionic and Cationic surfactants, therefore these compounds are becoming beneficial. These surfactants possess various qualities such as; these compounds are biodegradable in nature and therefore it reduces the risk of affecting the environment, they are also resistant to hard water and therefore can be used to form lather even in hard water and they are excellent emulsifiers. These surfactants are still new to the market and therefore developments is still going on to improve the quality and strength of the surfactant.
In chemistry we describe Critical Micellization Concentration as the surfactant efficiency. Lower value of CMC indicates the lack of surfactant, and which conveys that more surfactant is required in order to saturate the mixture. CMC is a point of concentration of surfactants at which the formation of micelle takes place.