Microemulsions spherical

Two main microemulsion microstructures have been identified droplet and biconti-nuous microemulsions (54-58). In the droplet type, the microemulsion phase consists of solubilized micelles reverse micelles for w/o systems and normal micelles for the o/w counterparts. In w/o microemulsions, spherical water drops are coated by a monomolecular film of surfactant, while in w/o microemulsions, the dispersed phase is oil. In contrast, bicontinuous microemulsions occur as a continuous network of aqueous domains enmeshed in a continuous network of oil, with the surfactant molecules occupying the oil/water boundaries. Microemulsion-based materials synthesis relies on the availability of surfactant/oil/aqueous phase formulations that give stable microemulsions (54-58). As can be seen from Table 2.2.1, a variety of surfactants have been used, as further detailed in Table 2.2.2 (16). Also, various oils have been utilized, including straight-chain alkanes (e.g., n-decane, /(-hexane),... 

The model has been successfully used to describe wetting behavior of the microemulsion at the oil-water interface [12,18-20], to investigate a few ordered phases such as lamellar, double diamond, simple cubic, hexagonal, or crystals of spherical micelles [21,22], and to study the mixtures containing surfactant in confined geometry [23]. 

Similar investigations have been carried out on water in oil microemulsions. A microemulsion is a clear, transparent, and stable system consisting of essentially monodisperse oil in water (OAV) or water in oU (W/O) droplets with diameters generally in the range of 10-200 nm. Microemulsions are transparent because of their small particle size, they are spherical aggregates of oil or water dispersed in the other liquid, and they are stabilized by an interfacial film of one or more surfactants. 

Many reports are available where the cationic surfactant CTAB has been used to prepare gold nanoparticles [127-129]. Giustini et al. [130] have characterized the quaternary w/o micro emulsion of CTAB/n-pentanol/ n-hexane/water. Some salient features of CTAB/co-surfactant/alkane/water system are (1) formation of nearly spherical droplets in the L2 region (a liquid isotropic phase formed by disconnected aqueous domains dispersed in a continuous organic bulk) stabilized by a surfactant/co-surfactant interfacial film. (2) With an increase in water content, L2 is followed up to the water solubilization failure, without any transition to bicontinuous structure, and (3) at low Wo, the droplet radius is smaller than R° (spontaneous radius of curvature of the interfacial film) but when the droplet radius tends to become larger than R° (i.e., increasing Wo), the microemulsion phase separates into a Winsor II system. 

Si02 nanoparticles AOT/decane/benzyl alcohol (BA)/water/ammonia (R = 6.8, BA/AOT molar ratio = 0-2.5) TEOS/H20 + NH3 (13.9 wt%) [TEOS] = 0.044 M h = [H20]/[TE0S] = 18.5 Microemulsions with BA/AOT >1.5 became unstable during synthesis reaction nearly spherical nanoparticles maximum in particle size at BA/AOT = 1.5 (32)... 

In 1968, Stober et al. (18) reported that, under basic conditions, the hydrolytic reaction of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) in alcoholic solutions can be controlled to produce monodisperse spherical particles of amorphous silica. Details of this silicon alkoxide sol-gel process, based on homogeneous alcoholic solutions, are presented in Chapter 2.1. The first attempt to extend the alkoxide sol-gel process to microemul-sion systems was reported by Yanagi et al. in 1986 (19). Since then, additional contributions have appeared (20-53), as summarized in Table 2.2.1. In the microe-mulsion-mediated sol-gel process, the microheterogeneous nature (i.e., the polar-nonpolar character) of the microemulsion fluid phase permits the simultaneous solubilization of the relatively hydrophobic alkoxide precursor and the reactant water molecules. The alkoxide molecules encounter water molecules in the polar domains of the microemulsions, and, as illustrated schematically in Figure 2.2.1, the resulting hydrolysis and condensation reactions can lead to the formation of nanosize silica particles. 

It can now be said that the microemulsion-mediated silicon alkoxide sol-gel process has come of age. The ability to form monodisperse spherical silica particles (20-39) and monolithic gels (40-53) by this method has been amply demonstrated. Recipes are available to prepare materials with predetermined characteristics, especially particle size and polydispersity. Potential applications of these microemulsion-derived... 

Microemulsions form spontaneously in much the same way as structural elements, such as surfactant micelles, rearrange themselves following the addition of the cosurfactant. Because the water may be incorporated into the hydrophilic structures of reverse micelles, when examined by x-ray analysis spherical droplets with diameters of 6-80 nm have been reported. 

The most basic form of MIP nanomaterials is the spherical nanoparticle, obtained by a number of techniques such as microemulsion polymerization [99-101], and polymerization in diluted solutions resulting in nanospheres and microgels [102-106]. Microgels (also sometimes referred to as nanogels) are particularly interesting, since they represent soluble, though cross-linked, MIPs with a size in the low nanometer range, close to that of proteins. 

The above-mentioned artificial microbubble surfactant mixtures, and other successful mixtures found for stable microbubble production (ref. 544-546), all contain saturated glycerides (with acyl chain lengths greater than 10 carbons) combined with cholesterol and cholesterol derivatives (cf. Chapters 9 and 10, and ref. 544). As described earlier, long chain lengths in nonionic (or even unionized) surfactants are known to favor the formation of both large, rodlike micelles (as opposed to small spherical micelles) and macroemulsions (as opposed to microemulsions) (see... 

The nano-sized particles of calcium carbonate and barium carbonate have specific characteristics. They are important materials for the industry. The main object of this investigation is to obtain nanoparticles of calcium carbonate and barium carbonate by chemical reaction carried out in microemulsion of water in oil. The nanoparticles obtained are spherical. Their sizes vary from 20 to 30 nm. The shape and size of particles are determinated by electron microscopy. 

Nano-sized particles of barium and calcium carbonate were obtained by a chemical reaction in a microemulsion. The particles were studied by electron microscopy and were found to possess spherical shape and diameters from 20 to 30 nm. 

W. Wang, X. Fu, J. Tang, L. Jiang, Preparation of submicron spherical particles of silica by the water-in-oil microemulsion method, Colloids Surf. A Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 81 (1993) 177-180. 

Single phase microemulsions are treated in the next section. Two general thermodynamic equations are derived from the condition that the free energy of the system should be a minimum with respect to both the radius r of the globules as well as the volume fraction of the dispersed phase. The first equation can be employed to calculate the radius while the second, a generalized Laplace equation, can be used to explain the instability of the spherical shape of the globules. The two and three phase systems are examined in Sections III and IV of the paper. 

For the sake of simplicity, it will be assumed that the microemu15ion contains spherical globules of a single size. Their dispersion in the continuous phase is accompanied by an increase in the entropy of the system and the corresponding free energy change per unit volume of microemulsion is denoted by if. The Helmholtz free energy f per unit volume of microemulsion is written as the sum... 

Instability of the Spherical Internal Interface in Single Phase Microemulsions... 

The Stability of the Spherical Shape When a Hicroemu1 si on Coexists with an Excess Dispersed Phase When an excess dispersed phase coexists with a microemulsion, P2 - p = 0. However, p2 - pi is always positive. To prove this, it is convenient to use the interfadal tension y defined via Eq. (17). Using expressions (21) for tf and the corresponding expressions for C provided by Eqs. 27, one obtains, in the same order ... 

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