Multiple Pickering emulsions stabilized by surface-segregated micelles with adaptive wettability

Tongtong Zhang; Hang Jiang; Liangzhi Hong; To Ngai

doi:10.1039/d2sc03783a

Multiple Pickering emulsions stabilized by surface-segregated micelles with adaptive wettability

Chem Sci. 2022 Aug 30;13(36):10752-10758. doi: 10.1039/d2sc03783a. eCollection 2022 Sep 21.

Authors

Tongtong Zhang¹, Hang Jiang², Liangzhi Hong^{1

3}, To Ngai⁴

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology Guangzhou 510640 P. R. China mslzhong@scut.edu.cn.
² The Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Biological Colloids, Ministry of Education & School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University Wuxi 214122 P. R. China.
³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Luminescence from Molecular Aggregates, South China University of Technology Guangzhou 510640 P. R. China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin N.T. Hong Kong P. R. China tongai@cuhk.edu.hk.

Abstract

Surface-segregated micelles (SSMs) with adaptive wettability have considerable potential for application in Pickering emulsions and bioanalytical technology. In this study, spherical SSMs were prepared via polymerization-induced self-assembly co-mediated with a binary mixture of macromolecular chain transfer agents: pH-responsive poly(2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate) and hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane. Using these SSMs as the sole emulsifier, we adjusted the pH to successfully produce both water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) and oil-in-water-in-oil (O/W/O) multiple emulsions through a single-step emulsification process. Moreover, we demonstrated that multiple emulsion systems with adjustable pH are suitable for the development of an efficient and recyclable interfacial catalytic system. Multiple emulsion microreactors increase the area of the oil-water interface and are therefore more efficient than the commonly used O/W and W/O emulsion systems.