Bijels stabilized using rod-like particles.

Hijnen, Niek; Cai, Dongyu; Clegg, Paul S · Soft Matter · 2015

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels, in short 'bijels', rely on a trapped layer of colloidal particles for their stability. These structures have traditionally been created using spherical colloidal particles. Here we show for the first time the use of rod-shape particles to stabilize bijels. We show that domain size decreases more rapidly with particle concentration in the case of rods compared to spheres. Large-scale analysis and detailed examination of images show that the packing fraction of rods is much higher than expected, in part, due to the role of 'flippers'.