Creating nanoscale emulsions using condensation
Name
Guha_et_al-2017-Nature_Communications.pdf
Size
1.45 MB
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Adobe PDF
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Author(s)
Guha, Ingrid F.
Anand, Sushant
Varanasi, Kripa
Date Issued
November 2017
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Guha, Ingrid F. et al. “Creating Nanoscale Emulsions Using Condensation.” Nature Communications 8, 1 (November 2017): 1371 © 2017 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Nanoscale emulsions are essential components in numerous products, ranging from processed foods to novel drug delivery systems. Existing emulsification methods rely either on the breakup of larger droplets or solvent exchange/inversion. Here we report a simple, scalable method of creating nanoscale water-in-oil emulsions by condensing water vapor onto a subcooled oil-surfactant solution. Our technique enables a bottom-up approach to forming small-scale emulsions. Nanoscale water droplets nucleate at the oil/air interface and spontaneously disperse within the oil, due to the spreading dynamics of oil on water. Oil-soluble surfactants stabilize the resulting emulsions. We find that the oil-surfactant concentration controls the spreading behavior of oil on water, as well as the peak size, polydispersity, and stability of the resulting emulsions. Using condensation, we form emulsions with peak radii around 100 nm and polydispersities around 10%. This emulsion formation technique may open different routes to creating emulsions, colloidal systems, and emulsion-based materials.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01420-8
