Surfactants are surface active agents that influence mixing and interaction of different chemicals with surfaces. Many spray adjuvants have some surfactant properties. Surfactants may aid in mixing, dispersal, spreading and wetting properties of pesticide spray solutions. Wetting agents, sticker-spreaders, emulsifiers, and compatibility agents are all surfactants. The term surfactant is often used interchangeably with wet-ting agent, a substance that improves leaf wetting and surface coverage.
Surfactants are generally complex, long-chain molecules.
This text was extracted from the publication, MF-1043.