Irreversible nanogel formation in surfactant solutions by microporous flow
Mukund Vasudevan1, Eric Buse, Donglai Lu
1Mineral Processing R&D, Cytec Industries Inc., Stamford, Connecticut 06902, USA.
Nature Materials
|March 23, 2010
Summary
Researchers developed a microfluidics method to create permanent nanogels from flow-induced structures (FIS). This breakthrough overcomes the reversibility limitations of previous methods, enabling new nanomaterial manufacturing.
Area of Science:
- Soft matter physics
- Materials science
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Surfactant molecules self-assemble into micelles, forming soft nanomaterials.
- Rod-like micelle solutions form viscoelastic gels under flow (flow-induced structure, FIS).
- Existing FIS transitions are reversible, limiting practical applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a method for creating permanent, flow-induced nanogels.
- To overcome the reversibility limitations of current FIS formation methods.
- To enable cost-effective manufacturing of active nanomaterials.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a microfluidics-assisted robust laminar-flow process.
- Achieved extension rates significantly higher than conventional devices.
- Employed cryogenic transmission electron microscopy for structural analysis.
Main Results:
- Successfully produced purely flow-induced permanent nanogels.
- Observed a partially aligned micelle network within the gel structure.
- Critical flow rate for gelation aligns with the Turner-Cates fusion mechanism.
Conclusions:
- The new microfluidics process enables the creation of permanent nanogels.
- This method overcomes the reversibility issue of FIS formation.
- The findings support the Turner-Cates fusion mechanism for FIS.
