The effect of double-chain surfactants on armored bubbles: A surfactant-controlled route to colloidosomes

Anand Bala Subramaniam, Donald Gregory, Jordan Petkov, Howard A. Stone

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

We find that the gas phases of air bubbles covered with anionic or cationic polystyrene latex particles dissolve on exposure to cationic and catanionic surfactants. The particles on the bubble interface are released as singlets or aggregates when the surfactant has a single hydrophobic chain, while porous colloidal capsules (colloidosomes) with the same aqueous phase inside as out are obtained when the surfactant has two hydrophobic chains. The formation of colloidosomes from the particle-covered bubbles does not appear to depend significantly on the charge of the particles, which makes it unlikely that bilayers of surfactant are stabilizing the colloidosome. While the exact mechanism of formation remains an open question, our method is a simple one-step process for obtaining colloidosomes from particle-covered bubbles.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6476-6481
Number of pages6
JournalPhysical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Volume9
Issue number48
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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