Altering Emulsion Stability with Heterogeneous Surface Wettability

Altering Emulsion Stability with Heterogeneous Surface Wettability

Emulsions-liquid droplets dispersed in another immiscible liquid-are widely used in a broad spectrum of applications, including food, personal care, agrochemical, and pharmaceutical products. Emulsions are also commonly present in natural crude oil, hampering the production and quality of petroleum fuels. The stability of emulsions plays a crucial role in their applications, but controlling the...

On the possible role of surface elasticity in emulsion stability.

We have measured the short-time and long-time elastic responses to compression of various types of surfactant layers adsorbed at oil-water interfaces. We prepared reasonably monodisperse oil-in-water emulsions with the same surfactants and monitored the time evolution of the emulsion droplets' diameter. We used a broad variety of surfactants (cationic, nonionic, and small polymers) and alkanes ...

Control surface wettability with nanoparticles from phase-change materials

Emulsion Stability: Determination from Turbidity

A novel technique for studying the stability of emulsions has been developed. Owing to the fact that emulsion turbidity is a function of particle concentration and size, the stability of emulsions can be determined by measuring the change in turbidity with time. The relationship between turbidity and particle size and concentration is derived for a polydispersed emulsion. The stability of acous...

Emulsion Formation, Stability, and Rheology

Emulsions are a class of disperse systems consisting of two immiscible liquids [1–3]. The liquid droplets (the disperse phase) are dispersed in a liquid medium (the continuous phase). Several classes may be distinguished: oil-in-water (O/W), water-in-oil (W/O), and oil-in-oil (O/O). The latter class may be exemplified by an emulsion consisting of a polar oil (e.g., propylene glycol) dispersed i...