The effect of polymeric surfactants on the rheological properties of nanoemulsions

We have investigated the rheological properties of submicron emulsions and how they are affected by the structure of polymeric surfactants. We have prepared oil-in-water emulsions stabilized with five steric surfactants, two of them belonging to the Myrj family and three belonging to the Pluronic family, with key differences on their structures. Droplet size and volume fraction have been kept constant to analyze only the influence of the surfactant. The viscoelasticity has been characterized by dynamic oscillatory shear experiments, while the shear viscosity was measured during steady shear flow tests. The results show a qualitatively similar gel-like behavior for all the emulsions, but with remarkable quantitative differences. Surfactants with longer hydrophilic tails produced emulsions with higher viscoelasticity. Pluronics, having a central hydrophobic part between two hydrophilic tails, produced emulsions with notably higher viscoelasticity and yield stress than Myrjs with comparable hydrophilic tails. The reason for this seems to be a more efficient steric barrier at the interface, induced by this central hydrophobic part.