Effect of nanoparticles on spontaneous Ouzo emulsification

Particles stabilize fluid interfaces. In particular, oil/water Pickering emulsions undergo limited coalescence, yielding droplets of smaller size as the amount particles is increased. Herein, we studied effect hydrophobic nanoparticles (<10 nm, alkyl-coated) on submicronic (ca 100 nm) formed in an Ouzo system. We investigated thoroughly water/tetrahydrofuran (THF)/butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) reference diagram, absence and presence nanoparticles, using Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) technique. This allowed us to characterize distributions a much finer way than what usually obtained conventional Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). Both Surfactant-Free Microemulsion (SFME, thermodynamically stable) (metastable spontaneous emulsion) domains were identified transition from one other could be characterized by specific features droplet distributions. found that limits coalescence metastable domain. also show alkyl-coated are irreversibly attached liquid-liquid interface.