Interfacial properties of (super)spreading trisiloxane surfactants

Abstract

Trisiloxane surfactants have been reported to have unusual interfacial properties, which was considered to be the root cause why some trisiloxane surfactants show exceptionally good spreading properties on hydrophobic substrates, so-called superspreading. Therefore, the behavior of those surfactants at all interfaces involved has been critically discussed, because some of the findings published in the past are quite counterintuitive. As it turns out, there does not seem to be anything unusual concerning trisiloxane surfactants – their interfacial behavior follows the rules of basic physical chemistry.