The detergents used in washing clothes and dishes in daily life are typical dispersants. Detergents disperse stains in water by stripping and coating them, thus achieving the purpose of washing.

In scientific research, dispersants are added before the reaction to evenly disperse the reactants and then generate products with uniform morphology through related chemical reactions, to adding dispersants after the reaction to extract the generated products through related separation methods, and then to adding dispersants in subsequent functional tests to make the product performance more stable, all of which are inseparable from the help of dispersants.

For example, to make nano silver cubes: in ethylene glycol solution, by adding silver acetate, PVP, sodium bromide, sodium sulfide and other substances, redox reaction produces cubic nano silver particles. In this process, PVP, bromide ions and sulfide ions act as coating agents and dispersants. It can be seen that in the process of making nano materials, dispersants often participate in intermediate reactions.

Preparation of palladium nanocubes: Potassium chloropalladate, ascorbic acid, and CTAB are heated and stirred for reaction. During the reaction, the dispersion of CTAB on the palladium source makes it easier for ascorbic acid to reduce palladium ions, and ultimately guides the directional growth of palladium crystals into monodispersed nanocubes with fixed morphology.

Formation of conductive ink: Mix nano copper powder, glycol ether and ethylene glycol ether in a certain proportion, and then put them into a ball mill for uniform grinding. The glycol ether and ethylene glycol ether act as both solvents and dispersants. This will form a uniformly dispersed conductive ink, which can then be screen printed and sintered in a reducing atmosphere to obtain a conductive circuit with excellent performance.

Formation of the negative electrode of the battery: Mix and grind lithium manganese phosphate, acetylene black, and PVDF in a mass ratio of 75:15:10. In this process, PVDF acts as a solvent and dispersant. The well-dispersed electrode material is evenly coated on aluminum foil to form the negative electrode of the battery for performance testing.