Bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels (bijels), in which the oil and water phases are continuous throughout the structure, have potential as media for simultaneous reaction and separation in continuous mode. Among the possible fabrication paths the solvent transfer-induced phase separation (STRIPS) method has proven to be a powerful approach to produce bijels in a continuous fashion with a broad selection of starting materials. STRIPS bijel formation involves the preparation of a precursor suspension which contains oil, water, nanoparticles and co-solvent, typically ethanol, that is injected in a water bath to trigger the oil-water phase separation. The successful formation of bicontinuous domains requires the use of neutral wetting particles which is achieved using nanoparticles with surfactant. However, this approach is not appropriate in applications that that require surfactant free environment such as enzymatically driven reactive separations. In this work, we use a pair of nanoparticles, one hydrophilic, the other hydrophobic to stabilize STRIPS bijels. We produce bijels using oil phases with broad ranges of polarity by simply changing the ratio of the two nanoparticles. We show how the ratio of the hydrophilic to hydrophobic nanoparticles required to form stable bijels changes as a function of the dielectric constant of the oil. Very non-polar oils require a smaller ratio than partially polar oils.  If a sufficiently polar oil is selected, only the hydrophilic type of nanoparticles is necessary, thus simplifying the procedure for STRIPS bijels manufacturing process. This approach widens that type of oils that can be used for the formation of STRIPS bijels. Moreover, the use of two different particles opens up the possibility to imbue the interface with two distinct functionalities that could be useful for reactive separation applications.

Stabilization of STRIPs bijels with mixtures of hydrophilic and hydrophobic nanoparticles

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.