Cryogenic Electron Microscopy Study of Nanoemulsion Formation from Microemulsions

We examine a process of preparing oil-in-water nanoemulsions by quenching (diluting and cooling) precursor microemulsions made with nonionic surfactants and a cosurfactant. The precursor microemulsion structure is varied by changing the concentration of the cosurfactant. Water-continuous microemulsi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLangmuir Vol. 30; no. 36; pp. 10826 - 10833
Main Authors Lee, Han Seung, Morrison, Eric D, Frethem, Chris D, Zasadzinski, Joseph A, McCormick, Alon V
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Chemical Society 16.09.2014
Subjects
Cryoelectron Microscopy
Emulsions - chemistry
Molecular Structure
Nanostructures - chemistry
Oils - chemistry
Particle Size
Surface Properties
Water - chemistry
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Summary:We examine a process of preparing oil-in-water nanoemulsions by quenching (diluting and cooling) precursor microemulsions made with nonionic surfactants and a cosurfactant. The precursor microemulsion structure is varied by changing the concentration of the cosurfactant. Water-continuous microemulsions produce initial nanoemulsion structures that are small and simple, mostly unilamellar vesicles, but microemulsions that are not water-continuous produce initial nanoemulsion structures that are larger and multilamellar. Examination of these structures by cryo-electron microscopy supports the hypothesis that they are initially vesicular structures formed via lamellar intermediate structures, and that if the lamellar structures are too well ordered they fail to produce small simple structures.
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ISSN:0743-7463
1520-5827
DOI:10.1021/la502207f