Controlling responsive emulsion properties via polymer design

摘要

Subtle changes in copolymer surfactant architecture and chain-end functionality can induce diverse behaviours in pH-responsive branched copolymer-stabilized emulsions.rnEmulsions are important materials since they allow incompatible liquids to subsist within discrete domains as free-flowing dispersions and are used in diverse applications such as foods, cosmetics, tertiary oil recovery and templates for advanced materials fabrication. Responsive emulsions can be prepared if the surfactants or particles employed to stabilize the interface change their properties in response to external stimuli such as pH, temperature, gas or light. Furthermore, if the surfactant wettability at the droplet interface changes, these emulsions can demulsify on-demand. Interest in these systems is growing as release of large payloads is desirable for many applications; however, this research has predominantly focussed on triggering rapid and complete demulsification.