Polymer architecture dictates thermoreversible gelation in engineered emulsions stabilised with branched copolymer surfactants

Thermoreversible Gelation of Aqueous Methylcellulose Solutions

The thermoreversible gelation of methylcellulose in aqueous solution has been studied by static and dynamic light scattering (DLS), small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), and rheology. At 20 °C, dilute solution light scattering establishes the molecular weight, second virial coefficient, radius of gyration, and hydrodynamic radius of the polymer. Semidilute solutions exhibit two relaxation mode...

Thermoreversible gelation is a Bose-Einstein condensation.

On the basis of the classical tree statistics, being combined with the lattice theory of a polymer solution, we prove that within the mean-field approximation thermoreversible gelation of polyfunctional molecules is a third order phase transition analogous to the Bose-Einstein condensation of ideal Bose gases. The derivative of the osmotic compressibility with respect to the concentration of pr...

Tailoring Core-Shell Polymer-Coated Nanoparticles as Block Copolymer Surfactants

The effect of core-shell polymer-coated nanoparticles on block copolymer morphology is investigated systematically by controlling particle positioning within a block copolymer template. Our approach of varying the areal chain density (Σ) of short thiol terminated polystyrene (PS-SH) brushes on the particles where the molecular weight (Mn) of the PS ligands (2.5 kg/mol) is used to control the fr...

Reversible assembly of pH responsive branched copolymer-stabilised emulsion via electrostatic forces.

The judicious compositional and structural design of a branched co-polymeric surfactant allows for the production of highly stable oil in water emulsion droplets with reversible electrostatic aggregation behaviour.

Natural Surfactants for Pharmaceutical Emulsions