How do fabric softening dryer sheets work on a molecular level?
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Detergents are a kind of “surfactant”, a kind of chemical compound that decreases surface tension between two liquids. Specifically detergents are made up of a kind of “head” attached to a long tail. The head is attracted to water while the tail is attracted to oils. This allows them to form a kind of layer between oil and water which allows the oil to be washed away more easily, as normally they strongly resist mixing.
However the tail of many synthetic detergents is a sulfo group which is anionic or negatively charged. Broadly speaking detergents are going to be negatively charged which can result in the formation of static charge when small amounts are left on the clothing. Dryer sheets are designed to counteract this by containing small amounts of weak acids which are positively charged, and are released by the heat of the dryer. These positively charged chemicals will coat the clothing and balance out the negatively charged detergent chemicals, sticking together in the dryer so your clothes aren’t trying to balance the charge by sticking to stuff when you are trying to wear them.
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