Assembling kaolinite nanotube at water/oil interface for enhancing Pickering emulsion stability

摘要

Emulsion has a wide range of applications. Good Pickering emulsifiers have always been sought to use for high stable emulsion. In this work, nanometer-sized kaolinite nanotube was prepared and used as emulsifier to stabilize Pickering emulsion. The emulsion stability was investigated by measuring the emulsion volume, emulsion viscosity, optical microanalysis of the emulsion droplets, and Cryoelectron microscopy of the distributed structure of emulsifier at the water/oil interface. The results showed that the emulsion droplet diameter was 60 pm, and the emulsion viscosity reached up to 3470 mPa.S. The creaming index was 76% and even up to 36% after centrifugation at 2000 rpm. The enhanced emulsion stability was ascribed to assembly and alignment of the kaolinite nanotube at the water/oil interface, forming a denser single-layer particle film to prevent the coalescence of emulsion droplets.