Abstract
Perfluorocarbon emulsion droplets are interesting colloidal systems with applications, ranging from diagnostics and theranostics to drug delivery, due to their controllable phase transition into microbubblesviaheat application or acoustic droplet vapourisation. This work highlights the application of small- and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering (SANS and USANS, respectively), in combination with contrast variation techniques, in observing thein situphase transition of polydopamine-stabilised perfluorohexane (PDA/PFH) emulsion droplets into microbubbles during heating. Results show peak USANS intensities at temperatures around 90 °C, which indicates that the phase transition of PDA/PFH emulsion droplets occurs at significantly higher temperatures than the bulk boiling point of pure liquid PFH (56 °C). Analysis and model fitting of the SANS and USANS data allowed us to estimate droplet sizes and interfacial properties at different temperatures (20 °C, 90 °C, and 20 °C after cooling), giving valuable insights about the transformation of these polydisperse emulsion droplet systems.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 9843-9850 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 16 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 28 Apr 2021 |
Equipment
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Centre for Electron Microscopy (MCEM)
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Office of the Vice-Provost (Research and Research Infrastructure)Facility/equipment: Facility
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Ramaciotti Centre for Cryo-Electron Microscopy
Georg Ramm (Manager), Simon Andrew Crawford (Operator), Hariprasad Venugopal (Operator), Joan Marea Clark (Operator) & Gediminas Gervinskas (Operator)
Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences Research PlatformsFacility/equipment: Facility