Ultrastable nanoemulsions in disordered and ordered states

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11890585-B2
Application number	US-202117466621-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2021
Priority date	Sep 3, 2020
Publication date	Feb 6, 2024
Grant date	Feb 6, 2024

Abstract

A biliquid material includes an emulsion having a continuous liquid phase, a dispersed liquid phase, and a surface-stabilizing material, wherein: the dispersed liquid phase is immiscible with the continuous liquid phase; the dispersed liquid phase is in the form of a plurality of droplets in the continuous liquid phase; the surface-stabilizing material is soluble in at least one of the continuous liquid phase and the dispersed liquid phase and preferentially adsorbs at the surfaces of the plurality of droplets, wherein the surface-stabilizing material imparts a repulsive interaction between the plurality of droplets that inhibits coalescence of the plurality of droplets; and the biliquid material has a structurally-colored droplets structure, wherein the structurally-colored droplets structure yields one or more structural colors when illuminated with broad-spectrum light wherein the one or more structural colors arise from diffraction of the broad-spectrum light by the plurality of droplets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A biliquid material comprising an emulsion comprising a continuous liquid phase, a dispersed liquid phase, and a surface-stabilizing material;
wherein:
the dispersed liquid phase is immiscible with the continuous liquid phase;
the dispersed liquid phase is in the form of a plurality of droplets in the continuous liquid phase;
the surface-stabilizing material is soluble in at least one of the continuous liquid phase and the dispersed liquid phase and the surface-stabilizing material adsorbs at the surfaces of the plurality of droplets, wherein the surface-stabilizing material imparts a repulsive interaction between the plurality of droplets that inhibits coalescence of the plurality of droplets; and
the biliquid material has a ordered structurally-colored droplets structure, wherein the ordered structurally-colored droplets structure yields one or more structural colors when illuminated with broad-spectrum light; and
the one or more structural colors arise from diffraction of the broad-spectrum light by the plurality of droplets.

2. The biliquid material of claim 1 , wherein the ordered structurally-colored droplets structure is hyperuniform, crystalline with long-range order, poly-crystalline with long-range order within a given crystallite, liquid crystalline with quasi-long-range order, non-crystalline with medium-range order, non-crystalline with short-range order, or a combination of two or more thereof.

3. The biliquid material of claim 1 , wherein the continuous liquid phase is polar and the dispersed liquid phase is non-polar.

4. The biliquid material of claim 1 , wherein the surface-stabilizing material is a surfactant, a lipid, a co-polymer, or a combination of two or more thereof.

5. The biliquid material of claim 1 , wherein the surface-stabilizing material is an ionic surface-stabilizing material.

6. The biliquid material of claim 5 , wherein the ionic surface-stabilizing material has an alkyl portion with a carbon number greater than or equal to 16.

7. The biliquid material of claim 1 having a radial size polydispersity of the plurality of droplets of less than about 0.2.

8. The biliquid material of claim 1 having an average droplet radius of the plurality of droplets of less than about 500 nm.

9. The biliquid material of claim 1 , wherein the repulsive interaction is a screened charge repulsion, and a spatial range of the screened charge repulsion is greater than about 0.1 times the average droplet radius.

10. The biliquid material of claim 9 having a zeta potential associated with the screened charge repulsion of a magnitude greater than or equal to about 10 mV.

11. The biliquid material of claim 9 having a Debye screening length associated with the screened charge repulsion of greater than about 5 nm in the continuous liquid phase.

12. The biliquid material of claim 1 having a refractive index difference between the continuous liquid phase and the dispersed liquid phase with a magnitude of greater than about 0.005.

13. The biliquid material of claim 1 having an effective refractive index of the emulsion n eff of from about 1.2 to about 2.0.

14. The biliquid material of claim 1 having a droplet volume fraction of the emulsion of from about 0.001 to about 0.5.

15. The biliquid material of claim 1 having a pH of the continuous liquid phase of the emulsion of about 4.0 to about 11.

16. The biliquid material of claim 1 , wherein the continuous liquid phase has an ionic strength of less than or equal to about 0.1 mM.

17. The biliquid material of claim 1 , wherein the ordered structurally-colored droplets structure yields two or more structural colors, each of which comes from optical scattering of different spatial regions of the same emulsion.

18. The biliquid material of claim 1 , wherein a wavelength λ associated with a peak in a backscattering spectrum of the emulsion associated with the structural color is set according to a Bragg scattering condition that follows the relationship of λ being proportional to <a>/ϕ 1/3 .

19. A method of forming a biliquid material, the method comprising
forming an emulsion comprising a plurality of droplets of a dispersed liquid phase in a continuous liquid phase;
reducing an ionic strength of the continuous liquid phase with a surface-stabilizing material that imparts a repulsive interaction between the plurality of droplets that inhibits coalescence of the plurality of droplets; and
adjusting a combination of a spatial range of the repulsive interaction, a strength of the repulsive interaction, an average droplet radius of the emulsion, a radial size polydispersity of the emulsion, a refractive index difference between the continuous liquid phase and the dispersed liquid phase, and a droplet volume fraction of the emulsion to provide the biliquid material with an ordered structurally-colored droplets structure that yields one or more structural colors when illuminated with broad-spectrum light;

wherein:
the dispersed liquid phase is immiscible with the continuous liquid phase;
the surface-stabilizing material is a surfactant, a lipid, a co-polymer, or a combination of two or more thereof;
the surface-stabilizing material is soluble in at least one of the continuous liquid phase and the dispersed liquid phase and the surface-stabilizing material adsorbs at the surfaces of the plurality of droplets; and
the ordered structurally-colored droplets structure is hyperuniform, crystalline with long-range order, poly-crystalline with long-range order, non-crystalline with medium-range order, non-crystalline with short-range order, or a combination of two or more thereof; and
the one or more structural colors arise from diffraction of the broad-spectrum light by the plurality of droplets.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the continuous liquid phase is polar and the dispersed liquid phase is non-polar.

Assignees

• Univ California

Inventors

• Mason Thomas G
• Pagenkopp Matthew

Classifications

• B01F23/4105 Primary

  Methods of emulsifying · CPC title

• B01F23/414

  characterised by the internal structure of the emulsion · CPC title

• B01F23/48

  characterised by the nature of the liquids (B01F23/47 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C09K23/00 Primary

  Use of substances as emulsifying, wetting, dispersing, or foam-producing agents · CPC title