Introduction to surfactants

Surfactant, also known as surfactant, is a compound that can significantly reduce the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, between a liquid and a gas, or between a liquid and a solid. 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 (including cationic surfactants, anionic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants), nonionic surfactants, compound surfactants, other surfactants, etc.