Dye stabilised nanoemulsions as powerful platform for the synthesis of nanoparticles

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ulrich Ziener
• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Molecules, Liquids and Interfaces, Biophysical Chemistry ; Solid State and Surface Chemistry, Material Synthesis
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 431859640

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

Dye-stabilised nanoemulsions serve as a variable and effective platform for the production of inorganic nanoobjects. Suitable organometallic precursors such as tetraethoxysilane are used as a disperse phase and water-soluble dyes such as fluorescein as a stabiliser. Depending on the reaction conditions such as temperature, type of stabilising dye and silane precursor, either nanoparticles or nanocapsules with narrow and controllable size are formed by the interfacial sol-gel process. Time-dependent small-angle X-ray scattering was used to elucidate the mechanism of particle formation. Accompanying ab-initio calculations support the hypothesis of dye aggregates as stabilising units at the oil-water interface. The concept can be extended to a wide variety of other alkoxy-silanes with different functional groups, whose chemical structure has a significant influence on the resulting morphology of the metal oxides formed. The simplicity of the system and the production process as well as the high variability of the components make the dye-stabilised emulsions a highly attractive system which, due to its scalability, could also gain industrial significance for the precise production of metal oxide-based nanoobjects, similar to the Stöber process.

Publications

• Double in Situ Preparation of Raspberry-like Polymer Particles. Langmuir, 35(18), 6161-6168.
  Li, Jiawei; Sihler, Susanne & Ziener, Ulrich
  
• Dual function of Eosin Y in miniemulsion polymerization: Stabilizer and FRET acceptor. European Polymer Journal, 134, 109862.
  Xue, Mingju; Chen, Jian; Zhang, Yubin; Liu, Le; Li, Yuqi; Zhang, Chonghua; Zhang, Peisheng; Sihler, Susanne & Ziener, Ulrich
  
• Albumin Microspheres as “Trans-Ferry-Beads” for Easy Cell Passaging in Cell Culture Technology. Gels, 7(4), 176.
  Favella, Patrizia; Sihler, Susanne; Raber, Heinz; Kissmann, Ann-Kathrin; Krämer, Markus; Amann, Valerie; Kubiczek, Dennis; Baatz, Jennifer; Lang, Fabian; Port, Fabian; Gottschalk, Kay-Eberhard; Mayer, Daniel; Spellerberg, Barbara; Stenger, Steffen; Müller, Ingrid; Weil, Tanja; Ziener, Ulrich & Rosenau, Frank
  
• BSA Hydrogel Beads Functionalized with a Specific Aptamer Library for Capturing Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Serum and Blood. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(20), 11118.
  Krämer, Markus; Kissmann, Ann-Kathrin; Raber, Heinz Fabian; Xing, Hu; Favella, Patrizia; Müller, Ingrid; Spellerberg, Barbara; Weil, Tanja; Kubiczek, Dennis; Sihler, Susanne; Ziener, Ulrich & Rosenau, Frank
  
• Investigation of the Mechanism of SiO2 Particle and Capsule Formation at the Oil–Water Interface of Dye-Stabilized Emulsions. Langmuir, 38(32), 9741-9750.
  Sihler, Susanne; Amenitsch, Heinz; Lindén, Mika & Ziener, Ulrich
  
• Robust Protocol for the Synthesis of BSA Nanohydrogels by Inverse Nanoemulsion for Drug Delivery. Langmuir, 39(23), 8176-8185.
  Sihler, Susanne; Krämer, Markus; Schmitt, Felicitas; Favella, Patrizia; Mützel, Laura; Baatz, Jennifer; Rosenau, Frank & Ziener, Ulrich