Microemulsion-templated nickel hydroxide nanoparticles as efficient stabilizers for twofold phase inversion Pickering emulsions
- 1Colloid Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, The University of Burdwan Golapbag Burdwan-713104 West Bengal India [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] +91-9476341691 +91-8016288873.
- 2Integrated Science Education and Research Centre, Siksha Bhavana, Visva-Bharati Santiniketan-731235 India.
Abstract
Twofold phase inversion Pickering emulsions were successfully prepared using reverse micellar-templated nickel hydroxide nanoparticles in combination with two different anionic surfactants, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS). The nickel hydroxide nanoparticles were synthesized within the reverse micellar core of a Span 80/1-butanol/hexane/water system. TEM and FESEM analyses confirmed the spherical morphology of the synthesized nanoparticles. The obtained nanoparticles exhibited a positive surface charge of +24.67 mV at near-neutral pH (∼6.76). Due to their highly hydrophilic nature, the nanoparticles alone produced only unstable oil-in-water (O/W) Pickering emulsions. However, in the presence of an anionic surfactant (SDS or SDBS), the nickel hydroxide nanoparticles were in situ hydrophobized through electrostatic adsorption of negatively charged surfactant head groups onto the positively charged nanoparticle surfaces. The first phase inversion from oil-in-water (O/W) to water-in-oil (W/O) occurred as a consequence of the enhanced hydrophobicity of the modified nanoparticles, where SDS (≤10 mM) or SDBS (≤6 mM) formed a surfactant monolayer on the nanoparticle surface. At higher surfactant concentrations, bilayer adsorption arising from tail-to-tail interactions of SDS (>10 mM) or SDBS (>6 mM) restored the hydrophilic character of the nickel hydroxide nanocomposites, leading to a second phase inversion from W/O back to O/W. The observed twofold phase inversion behavior originates from reversible wettability transitions of SDS@Ni(OH)₂ and SDBS@Ni(OH)₂ nanocomposites, which undergo hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic transformation followed by recovery of hydrophilicity at higher surfactant concentrations.
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BibTeX
@article{patra2026microemulsiontemplated,
title = {{Microemulsion-templated nickel hydroxide nanoparticles as efficient stabilizers for twofold phase inversion Pickering emulsions}},
author = {Arnab Patra and Nargis Khatun and Trishna Mandal and Mousumi Layek and Priya Karmakar and Baskinath Mondal and Prashanta Pal and Mahasweta Nandi and Sk Mehebub Rahaman and Bidyut Saha},
journal = {Nanoscale advances},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1039/d6na00721j},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13725867},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Microemulsion-templated nickel hydroxide nanoparticles as efficient stabilizers for twofold phase inversion Pickering emulsions
AU - Arnab Patra
AU - Nargis Khatun
AU - Trishna Mandal
AU - Mousumi Layek
AU - Priya Karmakar
AU - Baskinath Mondal
AU - Prashanta Pal
AU - Mahasweta Nandi
AU - Sk Mehebub Rahaman
AU - Bidyut Saha
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
JO - Nanoscale advances
DO - 10.1039/d6na00721j
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13725867
AB - Twofold phase inversion Pickering emulsions were successfully prepared using reverse micellar-templated nickel hydroxide nanoparticles in combination with two different anionic surfactants, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) or sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS). The nickel hydroxide nanoparticles were synthesized within the reverse micellar core of a Span 80/1-butanol/hexane/water system. TEM and FESEM analyses confirmed the spherical morphology of the synthesized nanoparticles. The obtained nanoparticles exhibited a positive surface charge of +24.67 mV at near-neutral pH (∼6.76). Due to their highly hydrophilic nature, the nanoparticles alone produced only unstable oil-in-water (O/W) Pickering emulsions. However, in the presence of an anionic surfactant (SDS or SDBS), the nickel hydroxide nanoparticles were in situ hydrophobized through electrostatic adsorption of negatively charged surfactant head groups onto the positively charged nanoparticle surfaces. The first phase inversion from oil-in-water (O/W) to water-in-oil (W/O) occurred as a consequence of the enhanced hydrophobicity of the modified nanoparticles, where SDS (≤10 mM) or SDBS (≤6 mM) formed a surfactant monolayer on the nanoparticle surface. At higher surfactant concentrations, bilayer adsorption arising from tail-to-tail interactions of SDS (>10 mM) or SDBS (>6 mM) restored the hydrophilic character of the nickel hydroxide nanocomposites, leading to a second phase inversion from W/O back to O/W. The observed twofold phase inversion behavior originates from reversible wettability transitions of SDS@Ni(OH)₂ and SDBS@Ni(OH)₂ nanocomposites, which undergo hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic transformation followed by recovery of hydrophilicity at higher surfactant concentrations.
SN - 2516-0230
ER -