Ning, Y., Meldrum, F.C. and Armes, S.P. orcid.org/0000-0002-8289-6351 (2019) Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals. Chemical Science, 10 (39). pp. 8964-8972. ISSN 2041-6520
Abstract
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.
Metadata
Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Sep 2019 14:17 |
Last Modified: | 10 Dec 2021 14:10 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1039/c9sc03372f |