Thermal processing of thermogelling nanoemulsions as a route to tune material properties
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c8sm00814k.pdf
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Author(s)
Cheng, Li-Chiun
Godfrin, Paul Douglas
Swan, James W
Doyle, Patrick S
Date Issued
July 12, 2018
Journal
Soft Matter
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Citation
Cheng, Li-Chiun, P. Douglas Godfrin, James W. Swan, and Patrick S. Doyle. “Thermal Processing of Thermogelling Nanoemulsions as a Route to Tune Material Properties.” Soft Matter 14, no. 27 (2018): 5604–5614.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Many soft matter systems have properties which depend on their processing history. It is generally accepted that material properties can be finely tuned by carefully directing self-assembly. However, for gelling colloidal systems, it is difficult to characterize such path-dependent effects since the colloidal attraction is often provided by adding another component to the system such as salts or depletants. Therefore, studies of and an understanding of the role of processing on the material properties of attractive colloidal systems are largely lacking. In this work, we systematically studied how processing greatly influences the properties and the microstructures of model attractive colloidal systems. We perform experiments using a thermogelling nanoemulsion as a model system where the isotropic attraction can be precisely tuned via the temperature. The effects of processing conditions on gel formation and properties is tested by performing well-designed sequential temperature jumps. By properly controlling the thermal history, we demonstrate that properties of colloidal gels can be beyond the limit set by direct quenching, which has been a major focus in literature, and that otherwise slow aging of the system associated with a decrease in elasticity can be prevented. Our results provide new experimental evidence of path-dependent rheology and associated microstructures in attractive colloidal systems and provide guidance to future applications in manufacturing complex colloid-based materials.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1039/c8sm00814k
