Triggering the Mechanical Release of Mineralized Pickering Emulsion-Based Capsules.

Abstract

Taking advantage of the benefit of Pickering-based emulsions and sol-gel chemistry, we synthesized mineralized Pickering emulsion-based capsules constituted of a dodecane core and a siliceous shell. To trigger the oily core mechanical release, we first made use of the one-step polycondensation synthesis path, reaching limited shell thickness from 43 to 115 nm with a resistance against the application of an external pressure from 0.5 to 6 MPa. When addressing a sequential mineralization route, we were able to reach both better shell homogeneity and higher values of shell thickness from 85 to 135 nm associated with a shell breaking pressure varying from 1.2 to 10 MPa. In this last configuration, the shell homogeneity and thickness are acting cooperatively toward enhancing the shell mechanical toughness and the associated effective breaking pressure of the dodecane@SiO2 core-shell particles.