Robust bijels for interfacial catalysis and interphase separations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12390782-B2
Application number	US-202318509531-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2023
Priority date	May 29, 2018
Publication date	Aug 19, 2025
Grant date	Aug 19, 2025

Abstract

Methods of making robust bijels include dispersing metal oxide precursors and/or metal salts into at least one phase of a bijel and hydrolyzing and condensing the metal oxide precursors and/or metal salts in a sol-gel reaction to form sintered bridges between interfacially jammed surface-active nanoparticles. The methods can be used with any bijels, including those produced during solvent transfer-induced phase separation (STRIPS) methods and other methods. A robust bijel includes chemically sintered bridges between the interfacially jammed surface-active nanoparticles. Methods of making nanocatalyst-functionalized sintered bijels include adsorbing metal salts to a surface of sintered interfacially jammed nanoparticles of bijels, and reducing the metal precursors on the surface of the sintered nanoparticles. Nanocatalyst-functionalized sintered bijels include catalytically active metal or metal oxide nanocatalysts on a surface of the sintered interfacially jammed surface-active nanoparticles.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A stabilized bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion (bijel), comprising:
a stable mixture of two immiscible liquids separated at an interface by one or more layers of jammed surface-active nanoparticles, and
bridges between the jammed surface-active nanoparticles of a layer of the one or more layers, wherein the jammed surface-active nanoparticles of said layer are characterized as sintered.

2. The stabilized bijel of claim 1 , wherein one of the two immiscible liquids is a hydrophilic phase and the other of the two immiscible liquids is a hydrophobic phase.

3. The stabilized bijel of claim 1 , wherein the jammed surface-active nanoparticles are charged.

4. The stabilized bijel of claim 3 , wherein the jammed surface-active nanoparticles are positively charged.

5. The stabilized bijel of claim 3 , wherein the jammed surface-active nanoparticles are negatively charged.

6. The stabilized bijel of claim 1 , wherein the jammed surface-active nanoparticles comprise silica nanoparticles.

7. The stabilized bijel of claim 1 , wherein the bridges comprise a metal oxide.

8. The stabilized bijel of claim 7 , wherein the metal oxide comprises any one or more of titania, zirconia, alumina, tin oxide, copper oxide, and nickel oxide.

9. The stabilized bijel of claim 1 , further comprising a catalytically active metal disposed on a surface of the sintered jammed surface-active nanoparticles.

10. The stabilized bijel of claim 9 , wherein the catalytically active metal comprises any one or more of Ag, Pd, and Pt.

11. The stabilized bijel of claim 10 , wherein the catalytically active metal comprises Ag.

12. The stabilized bijel of claim 10 , wherein the catalytically active metal comprises Pd.

13. The stabilized bijel of claim 10 , wherein the catalytically active metal comprises Pt.

Assignees

• Univ Pennsylvania

Inventors

• Lee Daeyeon
• Stebe Kathleen
• Di Vitantonio Giuseppe
• Wang Tiancheng

Classifications

• B01J35/23

  in a colloidal state · CPC title

• B01J35/45

  Nanoparticles · CPC title

• B01J35/56

  Foraminous structures having flow-through passages or channels, e.g. grids or three-dimensional [3D] monoliths · CPC title

• B82Y40/00

  Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures · CPC title

• B82Y30/00

  Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites · CPC title