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    Tuning Interfacial Properties and Processes by Controlling the Rheology and Structure of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Particles at Air/Water Interfaces

    Year: 2018

    Journal: Langmuir, Volume 34, JUN 19, page 7067–7076

    Authors: Maestro, Armando; Jones, Daniel; Candela, Carmen Sanchez de Rojas; Guzman, Eduardo; Duits, Michel H. G.; Cicuta, Pietro

    Organizations: Royal Society Newton International Fellowship; University of Cambridge/Wellcome Trust Junior Interdisciplinary fellowship; EPSRC Programme [CAPITALS EP/J017566/1]; MINECO [CTQ2016-78895-R]

    By combining controlled experiments on single interfaces with measurements on solitary bubbles and liquid foams, we show that poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgels assembled at air/water interfaces exhibit a solid to liquid transition changing the temperature, and that this is associated with the change in the interfacial microstructure of the PNIPAM particles around their volume phase transition temperature. We show that the solid behaves as a soft 2D colloidal glass, and that the existence of this solid/liquid transition offers an ideal platform to tune the permeability of air bubbles covered by PNIPAM and to control macroscopic foam properties such as drainage, stability, and foamability. PNIPAM particles on fluid interfaces allow new tunable materials, for example foam structures with variable mechanical properties upon small temperature changes.
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