title: Dynamics of Pickering Emulsions in the Presence of an Interfacial Reaction: A Simulation Study.
abstract: Pickering emulsions combining surface-active and catalytic properties offer a promising platform for conducting interfacial reactions between immiscible reagents. Despite the significant progress in the design of Pickering interfacial catalysts for a broad panel of reactions, the dynamics of Pickering emulsions under reaction conditions is still poorly understood. Herein, using benzene hydroxylation with aqueous H2O2as a model system, we explored the dynamics of benzene/water Pickering emulsions during reaction by dissipative particle dynamics. Our study points out that the surface wettability of the silica nanoparticles is affected to a higher extent by the degree of polymer grafting rather than an increase of the chain length of hydrophobic polymer moieties. A remarkable decline of the oil-in-water (O/W) interfacial tension was observed when increasing the yield of the reaction product (phenol), affecting the emulsion stability. However, phenol did not alter to an important extent the distribution of immiscible reagents around the nanoparticles sitting at the benzene/water interface. A synergistic effect between phenol and silica nanoparticles on the O/W interfacial tension of the biphasic system could be ascertained.
authors.forename: Shuangliang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Bicai
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Yaofeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Eco-Efficient Products and Processes Laboratory (E2P2L), UMI 3464 CNRS-Solvay , 3966 Jin Du Road, Xinzhuang Industrial Zone, Shanghai 201108, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhaoyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Eco-Efficient Products and Processes Laboratory (E2P2L), UMI 3464 CNRS-Solvay , 3966 Jin Du Road, Xinzhuang Industrial Zone, Shanghai 201108, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pera-Titus
authors.forename: Honglai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu