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Kim KE, Balaj RV, Zarzar LD. Chemical Programming of Solubilizing, Nonequilibrium Active Droplets. Acc Chem Res 2024; 57:2372-2382. [PMID: 39116001 DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.4c00299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/10/2024]
Abstract
ConspectusThe multifunctionality and resilience of living systems has inspired an explosion of interest in creating materials with life-like properties. Just as life persists out-of-equilibrium, we too should try to design materials that are thermodynamically unstable but can be harnessed to achieve desirable, adaptive behaviors. Studying minimalistic chemical systems that exhibit relatively simple emergent behaviors, such as motility, communication, or self-organization, can provide insight into fundamental principles which may enable the design of more complex and life-like synthetic materials in the future.Emulsions, which are composed of liquid droplets dispersed in another immiscible fluid phase, have emerged as fascinating chemically minimal materials in which to study nonequilibrium, life-like properties. As covered in this Account, our group has focused on studying oil-in-water emulsions, specifically those which destabilize by solubilization, a process wherein oil is released into the continuous phase over time to create gradients of oil-filled micelles. These chemical gradients can create interfacial tension gradients that lead to droplet self-propulsion as well as mediate communication between neighboring oil droplets. As such, oil-in-water emulsions present an interesting platform for studying active matter. However, despite being chemically minimal with sometimes as few as three chemicals (oil, water, and a surfactant), emulsions present surprising complexity across the molecular to macroscale. Fundamental processes governing their active behavior, such as micelle-mediated interfacial transport, are still not well understood. This complexity is compounded by the challenges of studying systems out-of-equilibrium which typically require new analytical methods and may break our intuition derived from equilibrium thermodynamics.In this Account, we highlight our group's efforts toward developing chemical frameworks for understanding active and interactive oil-in-water emulsions. How do the chemical properties and physical spatial organization of the oil, water, and surfactant combine to yield colloidal-scale active properties? Our group tackles this question by employing systematic studies of active behavior working across the chemical space of oils and surfactants to link molecular structure to active behavior. The Account begins with an introduction to the self-propulsion of single, isolated droplets and how by applying biases, such as with a gravitational field or interfacially adsorbed particles, drop speeds can be manipulated. Next, we illustrate that some droplets can be attractive, as well as self-propulsive/repulsive, which does not fall in line with the current understanding of the impact of oil-filled micelle gradients on interfacial tensions. The mechanisms by which oil-filled micelles influence interfacial tensions of nonequilibrium interfaces is poorly understood and requires deeper molecular understanding. Regardless, we extend our knowledge of droplet motility to design emulsions with nonreciprocal predator-prey interactions and describe the dynamic self-organization that arises from the combination of reciprocal and nonreciprocal interactions between droplets. Finally, we highlight our group's progress toward answering key chemical questions surrounding nonequilibrium processes in emulsions that remain to be answered. We hope that our progress in understanding the chemical principles governing the dynamic nonequilibrium properties of oil-in-water droplets can help inform research in tangential research areas such as cell biology and origins of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kueyoung E Kim
- Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16082, United States
| | - Rebecca V Balaj
- Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16082, United States
| | - Lauren D Zarzar
- Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16082, United States
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16082, United States
- Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16082, United States
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Demulsification of (W1+W2+W3)/O Reverse Cerberus Emulsion from Vibrational Emulsification. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2022.129623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Trinh V, Malloy CS, Durkin TJ, Gadh A, Savagatrup S. Detection of PFAS and Fluorinated Surfactants Using Differential Behaviors at Interfaces of Complex Droplets. ACS Sens 2022; 7:1514-1523. [PMID: 35442626 DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.2c00257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Contamination of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water supplies will continue to have serious health and environmental consequences. Despite the importance of monitoring the concentrations of PFAS at potential sites of contamination and at treatment plants, there are few suitable and rapid on-site methods. Many nonconventional techniques do not possess the necessary selectivity and sensitivity to distinguish PFAS from other surface-active components and to quantify the low concentrations in real-world conditions. Herein, we report a novel and rapid method for the detection of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) by leveraging their differential behaviors at the interfaces of emissive complex droplets. Measurement of surface and interfacial tensions via a force tensiometer reveals that PFAS preferentially self-assemble at the water-fluorocarbon oil interface (F/W) rather than the water-hydrocarbon oil interface (H/W). We also observe an opposite behavior for hydrocarbon surfactants. This difference in interfacial behavior produces distinct effects on the morphological change and optical emission of biphasic oil-in-water droplets. The change in the intensity of fluorescence emission, measured with a simple spectroscopic setup, correlates with the concentrations of PFAS. We also demonstrate that the range of detection and sensitivity can be tuned by adjusting the initial composition of the complex droplets. Our results illustrate an alternative mode of sensors that may provide a rapid and on-site detection of PFAS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivian Trinh
- Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, 1133 E. James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States
| | - Cameron S. Malloy
- Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, 1133 E. James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States
| | - Tyler J. Durkin
- Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, 1133 E. James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States
| | - Aakanksha Gadh
- Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, 1133 E. James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States
| | - Suchol Savagatrup
- Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, 1133 E. James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, Arizona 85721, United States
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Shen A, Hao X, Zhang L, Du M, Li M, Zhao Y, Li Z, Hou L, Duan R, Yang Y. Solid-state degradation and visual detection of the nerve agent GB by SA@UiO-66-NH 2@PAMAM hydrogel. Polym Chem 2022. [DOI: 10.1039/d2py01150f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
A new sodium alginate (SA) composite hydrogel for rapid solid-state degradation of organophosphorus derivatives and can be used to monitor hydrolysis of nerve agent GB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ao Shen
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Xiaohui Hao
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Lifeng Zhang
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
- State Key Laboratory of Baiyunobo Rare Earth Resource Researches and Comprehensive Utilization, Baotou Research Institute of Rare Earths, Baotou 014030, P. R. China
| | - Man Du
- School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang, 050018, China
| | - Mengwen Li
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Yongwei Zhao
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Ziqi Li
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Lala Hou
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Ruochen Duan
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Yunxu Yang
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
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Koroleva MY, Yurtov EV. Ostwald ripening in macro- and nanoemulsions. RUSSIAN CHEMICAL REVIEWS 2021. [DOI: 10.1070/rcr4962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Djalali S, Frank BD, Zeininger L. Responsive drop method: quantitative in situ determination of surfactant effectiveness using reconfigurable Janus emulsions. SOFT MATTER 2020; 16:10419-10424. [PMID: 33155583 DOI: 10.1039/d0sm01724h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Characterization of surfactant effectiveness and thus an evaluation of their performance in a wide range of emulsion technologies requires a precise determination of key parameters including their critical micelle concentrations as well as their ability to lower the surface tension at interfaces. In this study, we describe a new approach to quantify marginal variations in interfacial tension of surfactant stabilized fluid interfaces. The method is based on a unique chemical-morphological coupling inside bi-phasic oil-in-water Janus emulsions that undergo dynamic morphological transitions in response to changes in the surfactant type, concentration, ratio, and configuration. Variations in Janus droplet morphologies are readily monitored in situ using a simple side-view imaging setup, resulting in a fast, convenient, cost-effective, time-, and sample-saving technique for the characterization of classical surfactant systems. In addition, the reported method facilitates monitoring of triggered changes in surfactant effectiveness, e.g. invoked by external triggers, and thus proves particularly useful for the in situ analysis of stimuli-responsive surfactants and emulsions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saveh Djalali
- Department of Chemistry, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Am Muehlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
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Balaj RV, Zarzar LD. Reconfigurable complex emulsions: Design, properties, and applications. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2020. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0028606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca V. Balaj
- Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| | - Lauren D. Zarzar
- Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
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