Difference Between Ionic And Nonionic Surfactants

The nonionic surfactant that does not produce ions in aqueous solution. Its dissolution in water is due to its functional group that has a strong affinity for water.

Compared with the anion type, nonionic surfactants have higher emulsification ability and have a certain resistance to hard water. It is an indispensable component in the formulation of cleanser and emulsifier. Of course, compared with anionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants also have some defects, such as turbid point restrictions, alkali resistance, and higher prices.

Most of the nonionic surfactants are liquid and slurry, and their solubility in water decreases with increasing temperature. Nonionic surfactants have a variety of properties such as washing, dispersing, emulsifying, wetting, adding solution, uniform dyeing, corrosion prevention, and protecting colloids. Widely used in textiles, papermaking, food, plastics, leather, fur, glass, petroleum, chemical fiber, medicine, pesticides, coatings, dyes, fertilizers, film, photography, metal processing, mineral processing, building materials, environmental protection, cosmetics, fire fighting, agriculture and other various aspects.

Ionic surfactants are given different names on different occasions, such as dispersants, humidifiers, soaps and etc.

Where surfactants are soluble in water, ionized ions are called Ionic surfactants. 

It is a large class of emulsifiers which can be subdivided into anionic type(the hydrophilic group in the emulsifier molecule is an anion, such as fatty acid soap, etc.) and a cationic type(the hydrophilic group in the emulsifier molecule is a cation, such as quaternary ammonium salts, etc.) and amphoteric surfactants(molecules that have both positive and negative charges on the surfactant, with the medium of the PH can become positive or anion type, including lecithin, amino acid type and betaine type).