Microfluidic Fabrication of Stable Nanoparticle-Shelled Bubbles

Abstract

We introduce a microfluidic approach to generating monodisperse, stable nanoparticle-shelled bubbles using air-in-oil-in-water (A/O/W) compound bubbles as templates. The oil phase of the A/O/W compound bubbles comprises a volatile organic solvent and a hydrophobic silica nanoparticle. Upon evaporation of the organic solvent, the nanoparticles in the oil layer form a stiff shell at the air-water interface, which drastically enhances the stability of the bubbles against dissolution and coarsening. On the basis of this approach, we demonstrate that it is also possible to generate functional bubbles stabilized by composite shells that are composed of mixtures of hydrophobic materials and nanoparticles with unique properties.