High Internal Phase Emulsions: Catastrophic Phase Inversion, Stability, and Triggered Destabilization

作者：Dunstan Timothy S; Fletcher Paul D I^*; Mashinchi Saeed

来源：Langmuir, 2012, 28(1): 339-349.

DOI：10.1021/la204104m

We have investigated the formation, drop sizes, and stability of emulsions prepared by hand shaking in a closed vessel in which the emulsion is in contact with a single type of surface during its formation. The emulsions undergo catastrophic phase inversion from oil-in-water (o/w) to water-in-oil (w/o) as the oil volume fraction is increased. We find that the oil volume fraction required for catastrophic inversion exhibits a linear correlation with the oil water solid surface contact angle. W/o high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) prepared in this way contain water drops of diameters in the range 10-100 mu m; emulsion drop size depends on the surfactant concentration and method of preparation. W/o HIPEs with large water drops show water separation but w/o HIPEs with small water drops are stable with respect to water separation for more than 100 days. The destabilization of the w/o HIPEs can be triggered by either evaporation of the oil continuous phase or by contact the emulsion with a solid surface of the %26quot;wrong%26quot; wettability.

• 出版日期2012-1-10