The effect of double-chain surfactants on armored bubbles: a surfactant-controlled route to colloidosomes.
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.
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Anand Bala
AB
Subramaniam
Donald
D
Gregory
Jordan
J
Petkov
Howard A
HA
Stone
D000388:Air; D000838:Anions / Q000737:chemistry; D002412:Cations / Q000737:chemistry; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D007840:Latex / Q000737:chemistry; D010316:Particle Size; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*
D000838:Anions; D002412:Cations; D003102:Colloids; D007840:Latex; D011137:Polystyrenes; D013501:Surface-Active Agents