What are nanoemulsions and how are they made?

Nanoemulsions, also known as miniemulsions, are a special type of emulsion formed by mixing two immiscible liquids with surfactants using high shear or nanoemulsification. They feature uniform nanodroplets typically ranging from 20 to 500 nanometers in size. As a subset of colloids, they consist of a dispersed phase and a continuous phase.

What we know

• A miniemulsion is also known as a nanoemulsion and is created by applying high shear to immiscible liquid phases along with surfactants or co-surfactants. [2]
• Nanoemulsions usually contain nanodroplets with a uniform size distribution between 20 and 500 nm. [2]
• Nanoemulsification is the specific process of creating an emulsion at the nanoscale. [2, 3]

Where to go next

• the bigger pictureHow do general emulsions work?
• how it workedWhat role do surfactants play in mixtures?
• a case in pointHow is sonication used in laboratories?
• compared withWhere is sorbitan monooleate applied?
• the bigger pictureWhat are colloids in chemistry?
• an unexpected connectionHow do photographic films relate to liquid emulsions?The term emulsion is shared between liquid mixtures like nanoemulsions and the silver halide colloidal particles used on photographic film.

Sources

• [1]Miniemulsion (Wikidata Q6865241) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Miniemulsion · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Emulsion · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Sonication · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Sorbitan monooleate · CC BY-SA 4.0