Nanoemulsions are kinetically stable liquid-in-liquid dispersions with droplet sizes on the order of 100 nm. Their small size leads to useful properties such as high surface area per unit volume, robust stability, optically transparent appearance, and tunable rheology. Nanoemulsions are finding application in diverse areas such as drug delivery, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and material synthesis. Additionally, they serve as model systems to understand nanoscale colloidal dispersions. High and low energy methods are used to prepare nanoemulsions, including high pressure homogenization, ultrasonication, phase inversion temperature and emulsion inversion point, as well as recently developed approaches such as bubble bursting method. In this review article, we summarize the major methods to prepare nanoemulsions, theories to predict droplet size, physical conditions and chemical additives which affect droplet stability, and recent applications.@en

Nanoemulsions possess powerful nano-scale properties that make them attractive for diverse applications such as drug delivery, food supplements, nanoparticle synthesis and pharmaceutical formulation. However, there is little knowledge in nanoemulsion literature about controlling and predicting droplet size. In this article, we propose a scaling relation to predict the dependence of nanoemulsion droplet size with physical properties such as viscosity of the droplet phase and continuous phase, and process parameters such as input power density. We validate our proposed scaling with a wide range of droplet size data from nanoemulsions prepared with high pressure homogenization and ultrasonication. Our proposed scaling also compares favorably with experimental data from literature. The scaling relation can serve as a guiding principle for rational design of nanoemulsions.@en

A controlled synthesis of polymeric particles is becoming increasingly important because of emerging applications ranging from medical diagnostics to self-assembly. Centrifugal synthesis of hydrogel microparticles is a promising method, combining rapid particle synthesis and the ease of manufacturing with readily available laboratory equipment. This method utilizes centrifugal forces to extrude an aqueous polymer solution, sodium alginate (NaALG) through a nozzle. The extruded solution forms droplets that quickly cross-link upon contact with aqueous calcium chloride (CaCl2) solution to form hydrogel particles. The size distribution of hydrogel particles is dictated by the pinch-off behavior of the extruded solution through a balance of inertial, viscous, and surface tension stresses. We identify the parameters dictating the particle size and provide a numerical correlation predicting the average particle size. Furthermore, we create a phase map identifying different pinch-off regimes (dripping without satellites, dripping with satellites, and jetting), explaining the corresponding particle size distributions, and present scaling arguments predicting the transition between regimes. By shedding light on the underlying physics, this study enables the rational design and operation of particle synthesis by centrifugal forces.@en

A controlled synthesis of polymeric particles is becoming increasingly important because of emerging applications ranging from medical diagnostics to self-assembly. Centrifugal synthesis of hydrogel microparticles is a promising method, combining rapid particle synthesis and the ease of manufacturing with readily available laboratory equipment. This method utilizes centrifugal forces to extrude an aqueous polymer solution, sodium alginate (NaALG) through a nozzle. The extruded solution forms droplets that quickly cross-link upon contact with aqueous calcium chloride (CaCl2) solution to form hydrogel particles. The size distribution of hydrogel particles is dictated by the pinch-off behavior of the extruded solution through a balance of inertial, viscous, and surface tension stresses. We identify the parameters dictating the particle size and provide a numerical correlation predicting the average particle size. Furthermore, we create a phase map identifying different pinch-off regimes (dripping without satellites, dripping with satellites, and jetting), explaining the corresponding particle size distributions, and present scaling arguments predicting the transition between regimes. By shedding light on the underlying physics, this study enables the rational design and operation of particle synthesis by centrifugal forces.@en

A controlled synthesis of polymeric particles is becoming increasingly important because of emerging applications ranging from medical diagnostics to self-assembly. Centrifugal synthesis of hydrogel microparticles is a promising method, combining rapid particle synthesis and the ease of manufacturing with readily available laboratory equipment. This method utilizes centrifugal forces to extrude an aqueous polymer solution, sodium alginate (NaALG) through a nozzle. The extruded solution forms droplets that quickly cross-link upon contact with aqueous calcium chloride (CaCl2) solution to form hydrogel particles. The size distribution of hydrogel particles is dictated by the pinch-off behavior of the extruded solution through a balance of inertial, viscous, and surface tension stresses. We identify the parameters dictating the particle size and provide a numerical correlation predicting the average particle size. Furthermore, we create a phase map identifying different pinch-off regimes (dripping without satellites, dripping with satellites, and jetting), explaining the corresponding particle size distributions, and present scaling arguments predicting the transition between regimes. By shedding light on the underlying physics, this study enables the rational design and operation of particle synthesis by centrifugal forces.@en