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Phase inversion of particle-stabilized materials from foams to dry water

Nature Materials volume 5, pages 865–869 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Small particles attached to liquid surfaces arise in many products and processes, including crude-oil emulsions and food foams and in flotation, and there is a revival of interest in studying their behaviour. Colloidal particles of suitable wettability adsorb strongly to liquid–liquid and liquid–vapour interfaces1, and can be sole stabilizers of emulsions2 and foams3, respectively. New materials, including colloidosomes4, anisotropic particles5 and porous solids6, have been prepared by assembling particles at such interfaces. Phase inversion of particle-stabilized emulsions from oil in water to water in oil can be achieved either by variation of the particle hydrophobicity (transitional)7 or by variation of the oil/water ratio (catastrophic)8. Here we describe the phase inversion of particle-stabilized air–water systems, from air-in-water foams to water-in-air powders and vice versa. This inversion can be driven either by a progressive change in silica-particle hydrophobicity at constant air/water ratio or by changing the air/water ratio at fixed particle wettability, and has not been observed in the corresponding systems stabilized by surfactants. The simplicity of the work is that this novel inversion is achieved in a single system. The resultant materials in which either air or water become encapsulated have potential applications in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

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Figure 1: Dispersed systems prepared from fluid mixtures and colloidal particles.
Figure 2: Transitional inversion of the curvature of air–water surfaces with respect to particle hydrophobicity.
Figure 3: Materials prepared from mixtures of air, water and silica particles associated with transitional inversion.
Figure 4: Catastrophic phase inversion of particle-stabilized systems with respect to air/water ratio.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the EPSRC, UK, for a postdoctoral grant to R.M., T. Gottschalk-Gaudig, Wacker-Chemie (Burghausen) for the donation of the fumed silica powders and A. Sinclair, University of Hull, for carrying out the SEM analysis.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Surfactant & Colloid Group, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK

    Bernard P. Binks & Ryo Murakami

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  1. Bernard P. Binks
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R.M. carried out the experimental work.

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Correspondence to Bernard P. Binks.

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Binks, B., Murakami, R. Phase inversion of particle-stabilized materials from foams to dry water. Nature Mater 5, 865–869 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1757

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