Laser assisted generation of micro/nanosize emulsions

Abstract

Emulsification methods are of interest for numerous fields and those that generate nanoemulsions are, particularly, of great interest for medical applications. This paper presents a new laser-assisted device that may generate pharmaceutical emulsions. One of its advantages is that allows the use of small quantities of solutions, as low as a few hundreds of μl. It also allows to set the number of mixing cycles and mixing speeds. Emulsions of Sodium tetradecyl sulfate (STS) solution in water and oily vitamin A were generated without additional stabilizers. Optical microscopy, dynamic light scattering and surface tension analysis of a pendant drop were employed to compare the unirradiated emulsions with the ones exposed to laser radiation at 532 nm. Results showed that laser radiation decreases and homogenizes droplets dimensions. Furthermore, irradiation increases the stability of the emulsions. The wavelength of laser radiation is selected so that it is not absorbed by molecules in the immiscible solutions. In this way the energy of laser radiation leads to droplet break-up and generation of new, smaller droplets.