Influence of Creaming and Ripening on the Aggregation Rate of Non-Ionic Dodecane-in-Water Nanoemulsions

TL;DR

This study investigates how creaming and ripening affect the measurement of aggregation rates in non-ionic dodecane-in-water nanoemulsions, revealing that ripening influences observed flocculation rates more than buoyancy effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates that ripening, rather than buoyancy, significantly impacts aggregation rate measurements in nanoemulsions stabilized with Brij 30.

Findings

Ripening affects flocculation rate measurements.

Buoyancy has negligible effect when ripening is suppressed.

Ripening causes differences in aggregation rates independent of gravity.

Abstract

The possible influence of creaming during the measurement of the aggregation rate of dodecane-in-water nanoemul- sions stabilized with Brij 30 is explored. For this purpose additional emulsions made with a neutral-buoyancy oil (bro- mo-dodecane) and mixtures of dodecane and Br-dodecane with squalene were synthesized. It is concluded that when the effect of ripening is suppressed, the influence of buoyancy on the evaluation of the flocculation rate is negligible. In the absence of squalene, ripening is present, and a sizeable difference in the flocculation rate of dodecane and bro- mo-dodecane is observed. However, this difference is not caused by the effect of gravity.