Non-ionic surfactants, consisting of a hydrophilic head group and a hydrophobic tail, carry no charge and are relatively non-toxic. The hydrophobic moiety of the surfactant may be alkyl (T), fluoroalkyl, or steroidal in nature. A wide variety of hydrophilic head groups are available in vesicle-forming surfactants. There are various types of non-ionic surfactants, such as polyglycerol alkyl ethers, glucosyl dialkyl ethers, crownethers, ester-linked surfactants, polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers, Brij, Spans (sorbitan esters) and Tweens (Polysorbates).
Fig 1. A non-ionic surfactant
Cleaning Products
Some non-ionic surfactants are high foamers (like anionics), while others do not generate much foam. Because of their lower foam profile and strong emulsifying potential, these surfactants are the preferred choice when formulating extraction cleaners and pre sprays.
However, unlike anionic surfactants, non-ionic surfactants are thick liquids or syrups that are sticky or "gooey" to the touch.
Even with that being the case, their importance as cleaners outweighs this negative, and the cleaner or technician must take care to remove as much of the detergent residue as possible from the carpet in order to get the cleaning benefits of non-ionic surfactants without their negatives.
Fig 2. Application in carpet cleaning
In leather production
The demand for non-ionic surfactant in leather production is not very large, while the non-ionic surfactant has a very important significance to improve the quality of leather. Leather production including pretreatment, tanning, leather fatliquoring, dyeing, finishing, and many other links, among them, the non-ionic surfactant is mainly used in tanning and fatliquoring process. The using of non-ionic surfactant polyoxyethylene ether type surfactant may make the touch better, and appear more smooth and more bright colors.
Fig 3. Application in leather production
In coal production
The application of non-ionic surface activity in coal production mainly depends on the quality of coal. The problem of high ash content and humidity in coal determines that non-ionic surfactant is an indispensable chemical raw material for coal production.
Flotation is often used in production, that is, air is injected into the slurry, and then a layer of hydrophobic film is formed on the surface of the coal by adding a certain surfactant. In this way, relatively small coal particles will stick together with the foaming and float to the surface of the coal slurry, so as to obtain high purity cleaned coal. Non-ionic surfactants with low HLB value such as polyol ester are mainly used in coal production.
In pharmaceutical production
In addition to a few special non-ionic surfactants, such as oxidized amine, most of the non-ionic surface activity has the characteristics of dissociation in water, coupled with its toxicity and less hemolysis, therefore, non-ionic surfactant is widely used in medicine as an emulsifier, antioxidant, anticoagulant.
For example, the polyvinyl glycol glycerol can be used as the binder of the troche, and the polyoxyethylene fatty alcohol can be used as the troche lubricant; Non-ionic surfactants such as dehydrated sorbitol, poly (ethylene oxide) type, poly (ethylene oxide) and poly (propylene oxide) block copolymer, can be used as emulsifier for intravenous injection solution, etc.
Fig 4. Application in pharmaceutical production
Reference
Guardia, L., Fernández-Merino, M.J., Paredes, J.I., Solís-Fernández, P., Villar-Rodil, S., Martínez-Alonso, A. and Tascón, J.M.D., 2011. Carbon, 49(5), pp.1653-1662.
"Graphene has attracted great attention from the research community due to its excellent physical properties and huge practical application potential. At present, one of the main obstacles to the development of large-scale applications of graphene is the lack of high-throughput and cheap methods to produce this material. Using some non-ionic surfactants, high graphene concentrations of up to about 1 mg mL-1 can be achieved. Production of Pristine Graphene in Aqueous Dispersion with the Assistance of Non-ionic Surfactants Figures a-f show vials containing aqueous dispersions of graphene stabilized by some representative surfactants. It can be immediately seen that there are significant differences in the ability of surfactants to disperse and strip materials. For example, the bile salt detergent TDOC produces a weak, highly transparent dispersion (Figure b), indicating poor suspension of graphene. In contrast, the non-ionic surfactants Brij 700 and P-123 are able to disperse large amounts of exfoliated graphite, as can be seen in their completely black and opaque suspensions (see Figures e and f, respectively). In order to more quantitatively compare the dispersing ability of surfactants, we measured the absorbance of the suspension at a specific wavelength (660 nm) and estimated the corresponding concentration accordingly. The results are plotted in Figure h. The most significant trend is that non-ionic surfactants seem to be more effective at stabilizing stripped materials than ionic surfactants. The latter typically achieves concentrations in the range of 0.01-0.10 mg mL-1."
Deyab, M. A. Journal of Power Sources 412 (2019): 520-526.
"Aluminum-air batteries play an important role in future energy applications due to their low market price and high capacity. The release of hydrogen from alkaline battery solutions and the corrosion of aluminum electrodes are the main problems affecting battery performance. Nonoxynol-9 (N9) has been tested as a non-ionic surfactant as a corrosion inhibitor in aluminum-air batteries. Effect of Non-ionic Surfactants on the Performance of Aluminum-Air Batteries The effectiveness of N9 surfactant against aluminum corrosion in 4.0 M NaOH was evaluated using potentiodynamic polarization techniques. When the aluminum electrode is immersed in a 4.0 M NaOH solution, the aluminum oxide (Al2O3) layer dissolves due to the alkalization of the aluminum surface. The electrode potential at open circuit is −1.54 V vs. Hg/HgO. This potential is due to the oxidation of aluminum, the reduction of water and the growth of the aluminum hydroxide layer Al(OH)3. The aluminum hydroxide layer Al(OH)3 is thermodynamically unstable in alkaline solutions. This causes the Al(OH)3 film to dissolve, forming soluble aluminate ions in the electrolyte, and regenerating the exposed aluminum surface. There is no doubt that the presence of N9 surfactant will significantly reduce the corrosion rate. The addition of N9 shifts the cathodic curve to lower current density values, while the anodic curve is slightly hindered by the N-9 surfactant. N9 surfactants have a greater impact on the cathode reaction (H2 gas release reaction) than on the anode reaction. This is demonstrated by the shift in the corrosion potential (Ecorr) towards the cathode."
Deyab, M. A. Journal of Power Sources 292 (2015): 66-71.
"In the absence of inhibitors, zinc electrode corrosion is the main cause of battery leaks. The non-ionic surfactant (polyoxyethylene (40) nonylphenyl ether), abbreviated as (PNE), acts as a corrosion inhibitor of zinc in alkaline electrolytes (7.0M KOH solution). PNE can be considered an appropriate possible inhibitor. This is because the PNE molecule contains oxygen atoms, alkyl groups and aromatic rings. In addition, it is non-toxic. Potentiodynamic Polarization Measurements Figure 1 shows the potentiodynamic polarization diagram of zinc in a 7.0M KOH solution in the absence and presence of PNE surfactant at a scan rate of 1.0 mV s-1 and a temperature of 298 K. Active dissolution and passivation of zinc in alkaline solutions reduces its activity in alkaline batteries. The composition of the passivation layer may be Zn(OH)2 and/or ZnO. It can be seen from the polarization curve in Figure 1 that the addition of PNE surfactant reduces the corrosion rate of zinc in alkaline solutions. The electrochemical parameters extracted from the polarization curves are listed in Table 1."
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