(161b) Nanoemulsions Concentrated By Evaporation As Template for Porous Hydrogels Synthesis

Nanoemulsions are metastable colloidal dispersions with average droplet size ranging from 10-200 nm. They have a wide range of applications in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries due to their unique structural properties. Nanoemulsions can also be used as template to produce porous materials. In the present work, nanoemulsions of oil in water phase containing polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) are prepared with initial low volume fraction of dispersed phase. Then, the rheology of nanoemulsions is studied at different volume fractions during the concentrating process by evaporating the continuous phase. We present the effect of different rates of continuous phase evaporation and structural arrangement of nanodroplets on rheological properties of nanoemulsions. Nanoporous hydrogels are produced by crosslinking the PEGDA in continuous phase of nanoemulsions with the highest volume fraction. We discuss the water uptake behavior of nanoporous hydrogels resulted from different rates of continuous phase evaporation.