Understanding of the foam capability of sugar-based nonionic surfactant from molecular level

In this paper, the correlation of the interfacial molecular array behavior of sugar-based green surfactant dodecyl maltoside DDM, and its apparent foam properties was investigated by molecular dynamics simulation and quantum chemical calculation as well as experimental methods. A common nonionic surfactant nona-ethylene glycol dodecyl ether C12E9, which has same hydrophobic tail and similar O atom number in headgroup with DDM, was studied as a reference. It was found that, not only the array behaviors of hydrophilic groups of DDM and C12E9 at the air-water interface, but also the intermolecular interactions were quite different. The simulation finding agreed well with the experimental results, by which how the interfacial molecular array behavior of the two types of nonionic surfactants affect the foam properties was revealed, and the application potential of DDM being used as foam stabilizer under diverse harsh conditions, such as high salinity, high temperature, strong acid and alkali, was presented, which should be quite meaningful.