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Gradzielski M, Duvail M, de Molina PM, Simon M, Talmon Y, Zemb T. Using Microemulsions: Formulation Based on Knowledge of Their Mesostructure. Chem Rev 2021; 121:5671-5740. [PMID: 33955731 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Microemulsions, as thermodynamically stable mixtures of oil, water, and surfactant, are known and have been studied for more than 70 years. However, even today there are still quite a number of unclear aspects, and more recent research work has modified and extended our picture. This review gives a short overview of how the understanding of microemulsions has developed, the current view on their properties and structural features, and in particular, how they are related to applications. We also discuss more recent developments regarding nonclassical microemulsions such as surfactant-free (ultraflexible) microemulsions or ones containing uncommon solvents or amphiphiles (like antagonistic salts). These new findings challenge to some extent our previous understanding of microemulsions, which therefore has to be extended to look at the different types of microemulsions in a unified way. In particular, the flexibility of the amphiphilic film is the key property to classify different microemulsion types and their properties in this review. Such a classification of microemulsions requires a thorough determination of their structural properties, and therefore, the experimental methods to determine microemulsion structure and dynamics are reviewed briefly, with a particular emphasis on recent developments in the field of direct imaging by means of electron microscopy. Based on this classification of microemulsions, we then discuss their applications, where the application demands have to be met by the properties of the microemulsion, which in turn are controlled by the flexibility of their amphiphilic interface. Another frequently important aspect for applications is the control of the rheological properties. Normally, microemulsions are low viscous and therefore enhancing viscosity has to be achieved by either having high concentrations (often not wished for) or additives, which do not significantly interfere with the microemulsion. Accordingly, this review gives a comprehensive account of the properties of microemulsions, including most recent developments and bringing them together from a united viewpoint, with an emphasis on how this affects the way of formulating microemulsions for a given application with desired properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Gradzielski
- Stranski-Laboratorium für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Institut für Chemie, Technische Universität Berlin, D-10623 Berlin, Germany
| | - Magali Duvail
- ICSM, Université Montpellier, CEA, CNRS, ENSCM, 30207 Marcoule, France
| | - Paula Malo de Molina
- Centro de Física de Materiales (CFM) (CSIC-UPV/EHU)-Materials Physics Center (MPC), Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 5, 20018 San Sebastián, Spain.,IKERBASQUE - Basque Foundation for Science, María Díaz de Haro 3, 48013 Bilbao, Spain
| | - Miriam Simon
- Stranski-Laboratorium für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Institut für Chemie, Technische Universität Berlin, D-10623 Berlin, Germany.,Department of Chemical Engineering and the Russell Berrie Nanotechnolgy Inst. (RBNI), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, IL-3200003, Israel
| | - Yeshayahu Talmon
- Department of Chemical Engineering and the Russell Berrie Nanotechnolgy Inst. (RBNI), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, IL-3200003, Israel
| | - Thomas Zemb
- Stranski-Laboratorium für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Institut für Chemie, Technische Universität Berlin, D-10623 Berlin, Germany.,ICSM, Université Montpellier, CEA, CNRS, ENSCM, 30207 Marcoule, France
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Jung D, Harting J, Sega M. Monolayer Structures of Supramolecular Antagonistic Salt Aggregates. J Phys Chem B 2021; 125:2351-2359. [PMID: 33634691 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c10005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The speculated presence of monomolecular lamellae of antagonistic salts in oil-water mixtures has left several open questions besides their hypothetical existence, including their microscopic structure and stabilization mechanism. Here, we simulate the spontaneous formation of supramolecular aggregates of the antagonistic salt sodium tetraphenylborate (NaBPh4) in water and 3-methylpyridine (3-MP) at the atomistic level. We show that, indeed, the lamellae are formed by a monomolecular layer of the anion, enveloped by 3-MP and hydrated sodium counterions. To understand which thermodynamic forces drive the aggregation, we compare the full-atomistic model with a simplified one for the salt and show that the strong hydrophobic effect granted by the large excluded volume of the anion, together with electrostatic repulsion, suffice to explain the stability of the monomolecular lamellae.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Jung
- Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Fürther Straße 248, 90429 Nürnberg, Germany
| | - Jens Harting
- Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Fürther Straße 248, 90429 Nürnberg, Germany
| | - Marcello Sega
- Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Fürther Straße 248, 90429 Nürnberg, Germany
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Sadakane K, Fujii K, Tsuzuki S, Watanabe H, Umebayashi Y. Solvation state of sodium tetraphenylborate in 3-methylpyridine and its aqueous solutions. J Mol Liq 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2017.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Bier M, Mars J, Li H, Mezger M. Salt-induced microheterogeneities in binary liquid mixtures. Phys Rev E 2017; 96:022603. [PMID: 28950527 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.96.022603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The salt-induced microheterogeneity (MH) formation in binary liquid mixtures is studied by small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and liquid state theory. Previous experiments have shown that this phenomenon occurs for antagonistic salts, whose cations and anions prefer different components of the solvent mixture. However, so far the precise mechanism leading to the characteristic length scale of MHs has remained unclear. Here, it is shown that MHs can be generated by the competition of short-ranged interactions and long-ranged monopole-dipole interactions. The experimental SAXS patterns can be reproduced quantitatively by fitting to the derived correlation functions without assuming any specific model. The dependency of the MH structure with respect to ionic strength and temperature is analyzed. Close to the demixing phase transition, critical-like behavior occurs with respect to the spinodal line in the phase diagram.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus Bier
- Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstrasse 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.,Institute for Theoretical Physics IV, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Julian Mars
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany.,Institute of Physics and MAINZ Graduate School, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Staudingerweg 7, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Hailong Li
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Markus Mezger
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany.,Institute of Physics and MAINZ Graduate School, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Staudingerweg 7, 55128 Mainz, Germany
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Kawabata Y, Bradbury R, Kugizaki S, Weigandt K, Melnichenko YB, Sadakane K, Yamada NL, Endo H, Nagao M, Seto H. Effect of interlamellar interactions on shear induced multilamellar vesicle formation. J Chem Phys 2017; 147:034905. [PMID: 28734290 DOI: 10.1063/1.4994563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Shear-induced multilamellar vesicle (MLV) formation has been studied by coupling the small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique with neutron spin echo (NSE) spectroscopy. A 10% mass fraction of the nonionic surfactant pentaethylene glycol dodecyl ether (C12E5) in water was selected as a model system for studying weak inter-lamellar interactions. These interactions are controlled either by adding an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate, or an antagonistic salt, rubidium tetraphenylborate. Increasing the charge density in the bilayer induces an enhanced ordering of the lamellar structure. The charge density dependence of the membrane bending modulus was determined by NSE and showed an increasing trend with charge. This behavior is well explained by a classical theoretical model. By considering the Caillé parameters calculated from the SANS data, the layer compressibility modulus B¯ is estimated and the nature of the dominant inter-lamellar interaction is determined. Shear flow induces MLV formation around a shear rate of 10 s-1, when a small amount of charge is included in the membrane. The flow-induced layer undulations are in-phase between neighboring layers when the inter-lamellar interaction is sufficiently strong. Under these conditions, MLV formation can occur without significantly changing the inter-lamellar spacing. On the other hand, in the case of weak inter-lamellar interactions, the flow-induced undulations are not in-phase, and greater steric repulsion leads to an increase in the inter-lamellar spacing with shear rate. In this case, MLV formation occurs as the amplitude of the undulations gets larger and the steric interaction leads to in-phase undulations between neighboring membranes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y Kawabata
- Department of Chemistry, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan
| | - R Bradbury
- Center for Exploration of Energy and Matter, Department of Physics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47408, USA
| | - S Kugizaki
- Department of Chemistry, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan
| | - K Weigandt
- NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-6102, USA
| | - Y B Melnichenko
- Biology and Soft Matter Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6393, USA
| | - K Sadakane
- Faculty of Life and Medical Sciences, Doshisha University, Kyotanabe, Kyoto 610-0321, Japan
| | - N L Yamada
- Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Tokai 319-1106, Japan
| | - H Endo
- Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Tokai 319-1106, Japan
| | - M Nagao
- Center for Exploration of Energy and Matter, Department of Physics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47408, USA
| | - H Seto
- Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Tokai 319-1106, Japan
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Pousaneh F, Edholm O, Maciołek A. Molecular dynamics simulation of a binary mixture near the lower critical point. J Chem Phys 2017; 145:014501. [PMID: 27394111 DOI: 10.1063/1.4954768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
2,6-lutidine molecules mix with water at high and low temperatures but in a wide intermediate temperature range a 2,6-lutidine/water mixture exhibits a miscibility gap. We constructed and validated an atomistic model for 2,6-lutidine and performed molecular dynamics simulations of 2,6-lutidine/water mixture at different temperatures. We determined the part of demixing curve with the lower critical point. The lower critical point extracted from our data is located close to the experimental one. The estimates for critical exponents obtained from our simulations are in a good agreement with the values corresponding to the 3D Ising universality class.
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Affiliation(s)
- Faezeh Pousaneh
- Theoretical Biological Physics, Department of Theoretical Physics, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), AlbaNova University Center, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Olle Edholm
- Theoretical Biological Physics, Department of Theoretical Physics, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), AlbaNova University Center, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Anna Maciołek
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland
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Witala M, Lages S, Nygård K. Mesoscale ordering in binary aqueous solvents induced by ion size asymmetry. SOFT MATTER 2016; 12:4778-4782. [PMID: 27112965 DOI: 10.1039/c6sm00580b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Surprising weak assembly behavior has lately been found in binary aqueous solvents containing antagonistic salt. The underlying mechanism is still under debate, particularly the role of ion size asymmetry. Here we use small-angle X-ray scattering to study the effect of ion size asymmetry on the mesoscale ordering in a binary solvent composed of water and 2,6-dimethylpyridine with added symmetrical quaternary ammonium salt. By systematically elongating the hydrocarbon side-chain lengths, and hence developing cation-to-anion size asymmetry, we provide the first experimental evidence of a gradual build-up of the solvent's mesoscale ordering. These results are in qualitative agreement with model-independent theoretical predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Witala
- Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.
| | - Sebastian Lages
- MAX IV Laboratory, Lund University, PO Box 118, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
| | - Kim Nygård
- Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.
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