On the origin of the remarkable stability of aqueous foams stabilised by nanoparticles: link with microscopic surface properties.

Abstract

We have performed a quantitative study of the coarsening of foams stabilised by partially hydrophobic silica nanoparticles. We have used a variety of techniques: optical and electron microscopy, microfluidics, and multiple light scattering. Using earlier studies of planar particle monolayers, we have been able to correlate the interfacial properties and the macroscopic temporal evolution of the foam. This has shed light on the origin of the absence of coarsening of particle-stabilised foams. Such particle-stabilised foams appear to be the only known foam system where coarsening is inhibited by surface elasticity.