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Bridged emulsion gels from polymer-nanoparticle enabling large-amount biomedical encapsulation and functionalization.
Chuchu Wan1, Si He2, Quanyong Cheng1
1Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage of Ministry of Education (HUST), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, 430074, China.
Nature Communications
|December 31, 2024
Summary
This study introduces a simple method to create versatile emulsion gels for enhanced encapsulation. These novel gels offer tunable properties and outperform commercial products, paving the way for advanced cosmetic and medical applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Colloid and Surface Chemistry
Background:
- Emulsion gels are crucial for biomedical applications like cosmetics and ointments, enabling large-amount encapsulation.
- Current synthesis methods for emulsion gels are often complex, laborious, and lack universality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a simple, universal, and scalable strategy for synthesizing advanced emulsion gels.
- To achieve precise interfacial engineering for controlled network formation and tunable rheological properties.
Main Methods:
- Interfacial engineering via homogenizing nanoparticle aqueous dispersion and polymer oil solution.
- Achieving a 45° three-phase contact angle for nanoparticles to bridge oil emulsion interfaces.
- Formation of interconnected macroscopic networks through nanoparticle bridging.
Main Results:
- Tunable bridged skeletons and rheology determined by component inputs.
- Demonstrated high encapsulation and storage ability in emulsion gels.
- Proof-of-concept: sunscreen-loaded emulsion gels outperformed commercial products.
Conclusions:
- The developed method offers a facile, rapid (seconds), and versatile approach to emulsion gel synthesis.
- This strategy is scalable and applicable to next-generation cosmetic, ointment, and food gel systems.
- Precise interfacial control enables deterministic network formation and enhanced functional properties.
