The self-assembly process of microparticles and liquid-liquid interfaces is driven by strong adhesive forces up to the order of 10<sup>6</sup> kT. Microparticles can transport across a liquid-liquid interface, but they first must overcome the capillary forces that exist between the surface of the particles and the liquid interface. This usually requires the application of a shear force, or even the use of surfactant functionalization. However, with some ionic liquids (ILs), the spontaneous transport of microparticles without any external agitation is possible because of the ionic liquid's exceptional extraction capabilities. The systems investigated included IL/water and IL/oil interfaces. In these systems, single particles as well as clusters of particles were able to adsorb to, then cross, and detach from the liquid-liquid interface into the ionic liquid droplet. This phenomena occurred because the dissolved ions in the non-ionic liquid bulk phase covered the surface of the particles, causing hydrophobization and leading to more desirable interactions with the ionic liquid. Thus, the particles were able to overcome the adhesive forces and cross the liquid-liquid interface. Fluorescence intensity of particles in the continuous water phase in the presence of ionic liquid droplets was measured to quantify the degree of absorption with respect to each ionic liquid.

Microparticle transport across ionic liquid based interfaces

249th National Meeting (2015)

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