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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Kinetic stability of water-dispersed oil droplets encapsulated in a polyelectrolyte multilayer shell
Anton V Sadovoy1, Maxim V Kiryukhin, Gleb B Sukhorukov
1Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore.
Abstract:
The original theoretical model of polyelectrolyte adsorption onto water-dispersed colloid particles is extended to the system of polydisperse droplets of sunflower oil. Polycation (poly(allylamine hydrochloride)) and polyanion (poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)) are taken in the theoretically projected concentrations to perform Layer-by-Layer assembly of a multilayer shell on the surface of oil droplets preliminary stabilized with a protein emulsifier (bovine serum albumin). The velocity of gravitational separation in suspension of encapsulated oil droplets is theoretically predicted and experimentally measured depending on the coating shell's thickness, aiming to clarify the mechanism to control over the separation process. Combining the theory and experimental data, the mass density of a polyelectrolyte multilayer shell assembled in a Layer-by-Layer fashion is obtained. Polyelectrolyte multilayer coated oil droplets are characterized by means of ζ-potential, and particle size measurements, and visualized by scanning electron microscopy.
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