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Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals

It is well known that oil and water do not mix. Similarly, the incorporation of oil droplets within inorganic crystals is highly counter-intuitive because there is a large difference in surface energy for these two components. Nevertheless, herein we demonstrate the efficient occlusion of ∼250–500 n...

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Autores principales: Ning, Yin, Meldrum, Fiona C., Armes, Steven P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Royal Society of Chemistry 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7472555/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32953001
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9sc03372f
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author Ning, Yin
Meldrum, Fiona C.
Armes, Steven P.
author_facet Ning, Yin
Meldrum, Fiona C.
Armes, Steven P.
author_sort Ning, Yin
collection PubMed
description It is well known that oil and water do not mix. Similarly, the incorporation of oil droplets within inorganic crystals is highly counter-intuitive because there is a large difference in surface energy for these two components. Nevertheless, herein we demonstrate the efficient occlusion of ∼250–500 nm oil droplets within 20–40 μm calcite crystals. These droplets are stabilized using various amphiphilic poly(methacrylic acid)–poly(n-alkyl methacrylate) diblock copolymer emulsifiers. Both copolymer concentration and diblock compositions affect the extent of occlusion, with optimized conditions producing calcite crystals containing up to 11% oil by mass. Moreover, compressive forces exerted by the growing crystals cause significant deformation of the oil droplets during occlusion. In principle, this protocol enables the incorporation of water-insoluble dyes or hydrophobic nanoparticles within calcite, which is a cheap, naturally-occurring and environmentally-benign mineral. The single crystal nature of this host lattice ensures efficient retention of such guests, while lowering the solution pH leads to triggered release via acid dissolution.
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spelling pubmed-74725552020-09-18 Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals Ning, Yin Meldrum, Fiona C. Armes, Steven P. Chem Sci Chemistry It is well known that oil and water do not mix. Similarly, the incorporation of oil droplets within inorganic crystals is highly counter-intuitive because there is a large difference in surface energy for these two components. Nevertheless, herein we demonstrate the efficient occlusion of ∼250–500 nm oil droplets within 20–40 μm calcite crystals. These droplets are stabilized using various amphiphilic poly(methacrylic acid)–poly(n-alkyl methacrylate) diblock copolymer emulsifiers. Both copolymer concentration and diblock compositions affect the extent of occlusion, with optimized conditions producing calcite crystals containing up to 11% oil by mass. Moreover, compressive forces exerted by the growing crystals cause significant deformation of the oil droplets during occlusion. In principle, this protocol enables the incorporation of water-insoluble dyes or hydrophobic nanoparticles within calcite, which is a cheap, naturally-occurring and environmentally-benign mineral. The single crystal nature of this host lattice ensures efficient retention of such guests, while lowering the solution pH leads to triggered release via acid dissolution. Royal Society of Chemistry 2019-08-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7472555/ /pubmed/32953001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9sc03372f Text en This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is freely available. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY 3.0)
spellingShingle Chemistry
Ning, Yin
Meldrum, Fiona C.
Armes, Steven P.
Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals
title Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals
title_full Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals
title_fullStr Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals
title_full_unstemmed Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals
title_short Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals
title_sort efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals
topic Chemistry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7472555/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32953001
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9sc03372f
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