Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Water in Oil Emulsions: A New System for Assembling Water-soluble Chlorophyll-binding Proteins with Hydrophobic Pigments
Published on: March 21, 2016
Microrheology of novel cellulose stabilized oil-in-water emulsions
B Medronho1, A Filipe1, C Costa2
1Faculty of Sciences and Technology (MeditBio), Ed. 8, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal.
Abstract:
Diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS) is a powerful optical technique suitable to investigate turbid samples in a nondestructive and reproducible way, providing information on the static and dynamic properties of the system. This includes the relative displacement of emulsion droplets over time and changes in the viscoelastic properties. Here, novel and promising cellulose-based oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions were prepared and studied, for the first time, by DWS. Cellulose plays the role of a novel eco-friendly emulsifying agent. The hydrolysis time of cellulose was observed to affect the average size of the emulsion droplets and their stability; the longer the hydrolysis time, the more dispersed and stable the emulsions were found to be. Additionally, a good complementarity between the microrheology (DWS) and macrorheology (mechanical rheometer) data was found. Our work suggests that DWS is a highly attractive method to investigate the stability, aging and microrheology properties of cellulose-based emulsions, providing valuable insights on their microstructure. This technique is thus highly appealing for the characterization and design of novel emulsion formulations.
Related Concept Videos
Cellulose and Pectic Polysaccharides
As a cell matures, its cell wall specializes according to its type. For example, the...
Nuclear Stability
To hold positively charged protons together...
RNA Stability
Stability
The stability of an LTI system is determined by the roots of its characteristic equation, known as poles. A system is stable if it produces a bounded...
States of Water
Water freezes when the intermolecular forces are greater than the kinetic energy. Unlike most other substances, water is less dense in its solid state than in its liquid state. This is because each water molecule can form...
Stability of structures

