Cellulose-Based Surfactants: Designing Particle-Based Surfactants for Sustainable Applications
type: CreativeWork
description: Surfactants are versatile chemicals used in a wide variety of everyday goods, ranging from personal care products to pharmaceuticals. Their usefulness lies in their amphiphilic nature, which makes them essential for any product where oil and water are required to mix and form a stable mixture. In 2023, their market size was valued at USD 30 billion, with expected growth of 10% by 2033. To date, the majority of the market is dominated by molecular surfactants obtained partially or wholly from the petrochemical industry. Current efforts are focused on replacing traditional surfactants with greener alternatives, especially from renewable sources, without compromising on performance. In recent decades, there has been a surge of interest in the use of solid particles as emulsifiers. The resulting oil/water mixtures are known as Pickering emulsions, and are particularly stable due to the localisation of the particles at the oil/water interface, which forms a physical barrier that prevents coalescence. The Pickering emulsifiers currently in commercial use are all particles with homogeneous wettability. However, it has been demonstrated that particles with dual wettability have the potential to decrease the interfacial energy further and act as even more effective emulsifiers. Research in this area has predominantly focused on metallic, silica, plastic, and inorganic materials. This thesis set out to investigate the synthesis of cellulose Janus nanospheres with dual wettability by the partial modification of the particle surface via the use of Pickering emulsions. Chapter 2 investigates the key parameters for the formation of hydrophilic spherical nanocellulose particles (SNC) and their partial surface functionalization with hydrophobic alkyl chains. Partial modification relied on the ability of SNCs to form oil-in-water Pickering emulsions, with the particles sitting at the oil/water interface, with one face wetted by water and the other wetted by oil. A lipophilic modifie…
abstract: Surfactants are versatile chemicals used in a wide variety of everyday goods, ranging from personal care products to pharmaceuticals. Their usefulness lies in their amphiphilic nature, which makes them essential for any product where oil and water are required to mix and form a stable mixture. In 2023, their market size was valued at USD 30 billion, with expected growth of 10% by 2033. To date, the majority of the market is dominated by molecular surfactants obtained partially or wholly from the petrochemical industry. Current efforts are focused on replacing traditional surfactants with greener alternatives, especially from renewable sources, without compromising on performance. In recent decades, there has been a surge of interest in the use of solid particles as emulsifiers. The resulting oil/water mixtures are known as Pickering emulsions, and are particularly stable due to the localisation of the particles at the oil/water interface, which forms a physical barrier that prevents coalescence. The Pickering emulsifiers currently in commercial use are all particles with homogeneous wettability. However, it has been demonstrated that particles with dual wettability have the potential to decrease the interfacial energy further and act as even more effective emulsifiers. Research in this area has predominantly focused on metallic, silica, plastic, and inorganic materials. This thesis set out to investigate the synthesis of cellulose Janus nanospheres with dual wettability by the partial modification of the particle surface via the use of Pickering emulsions. Chapter 2 investigates the key parameters for the formation of hydrophilic spherical nanocellulose particles (SNC) and their partial surface functionalization with hydrophobic alkyl chains. Partial modification relied on the ability of SNCs to form oil-in-water Pickering emulsions, with the particles sitting at the oil/water interface, with one face wetted by water and the other wetted by oil. A lipophilic modifie…
author: Tiban Anrango, Bryan Andres
date published: 2024
date modified: 2026-07-27T18:46:06Z
provider: AUT University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: AUT University