Researchers led by a team at Waterloo Engineering have developed a way to create tiny droplets of one liquid inside another liquid without mixing the two together.
The technique, known as droplet templating, enables the creation of a new class of nanoparticle-based soft materials with potential applications in carbon capture and wastewater treatment.
The process involves assembling and jamming nanoparticles onto the surface of an aqueous-based droplet, forming a strong outer shell that keeps each droplet intact and distinct. The coated droplets can then be filled with a wide range of nanoparticles and dried to form lightweight, porous aerogel beads.
“This technique allows researchers to create hybrid aerogels by filling each droplet or bead with specific nanomaterials for different targeted uses,” said Dr. Milad Kamkar, a professor of chemical engineering.
“Researchers can now control not only the composition but also where each droplet is arranged within a liquid, essentially making the droplets and the resulting soft materials and aerogels programmable.”
Go to How to suspend one liquid inside another for the full story.