Ning, Y, Meldrum, FC orcid.org/0000-0001-9243-8517 and Armes, SP (2019) Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals. Chemical Science, 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
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Inorganic Chemistry (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 23 Aug 2019 10:46 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:57 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry |
Identification Number: | 10.1039/C9SC03372F |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:150021 |