Issue 1, 2015

Manipulating and quantifying temperature-triggered coalescence with microcentrifugation

Abstract

In this paper we describe a new approach to quantify the stability and coalescence kinetics of thermally switchable emulsions using an imaging-based microcentrifugation method. We first show that combining synchronized high-speed imaging with microfluidic centrifugation allows the direct measurement of the thermodynamic stability of emulsions, as expressed by the critical disjoining pressure. We apply this to a thermoresponsive emulsion, allowing us to measure the critical disjoining pressure as a function of temperature. The same method, combined with quantitative image analysis, also gives access to droplet-scale details of the coalescence process. We illustrate this by measuring temperature-dependent coalescence rates and by analysing the temperature-induced switching between two distinct microscopic mechanisms by which dense emulsions can destabilise to form a homogeneous oil phase.

Graphical abstract: Manipulating and quantifying temperature-triggered coalescence with microcentrifugation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Jul 2014
Accepted
06 Oct 2014
First published
06 Oct 2014

Lab Chip, 2015,15, 188-194

Author version available

Manipulating and quantifying temperature-triggered coalescence with microcentrifugation

H. Feng, D. Ershov, T. Krebs, K. Schroen, M. A. Cohen Stuart, J. van der Gucht and J. Sprakel, Lab Chip, 2015, 15, 188 DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00773E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements