title: Quantitative morphological characterization of bicontinuous Pickering emulsions via interfacial curvatures.
abstract: Bicontinuous Pickering emulsions (bijels) are a physically interesting class of soft materials with many potential applications including catalysis, microfluidics and tissue engineering. They are created by arresting the spinodal decomposition of a partially-miscible liquid with a (jammed) layer of interfacial colloids. Porosity L (average interfacial separation) of the bijel is controlled by varying the radius (r) and volume fraction (ϕ) of the colloids (L∝r/ϕ). However, to optimize the bijel structure with respect to other parameters, e.g. quench rate, characterizing by L alone is insufficient. Hence, we have used confocal microscopy and X-ray CT to characterize a range of bijels in terms of local and area-averaged interfacial curvatures; we further demonstrate that bijels are bicontinuous using an image-analysis technique known as 'region growing'. In addition, the curvatures of bijels have been monitored as a function of time, which has revealed an intriguing evolution up to 60 minutes after bijel formation, contrary to previous understanding.
authors.affiliation: SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, James Clerk Maxwell Building, Peter Guthrie Tait Road, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3FD, UK. j.h.j.thijssen@ed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stratford
authors.forename: Job H J
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Thijssen
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D003102:Colloids; D004655:Emulsions; D016062:Porosity
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D004655:Emulsions