Biocompatible Pickering Nanoemulsions for Cosmetics Applications

乳液包含分散在第二不混溶液体（例如水）内的液体（例如油）的微小液滴。皮克林乳液是一种特殊类型的乳液，其中液滴被微小颗粒包覆，这防止了液滴聚结。阿什兰是一家特种化学品公司，最近将一种可持续的大豆衍生甘油三酯油商业化，该油可用于防晒、护肤和彩妆。Armes教授在Pickering乳剂方面拥有20年的经验，最近通过处理最初粗糙的Pickering乳剂以产生更细的油滴（平均液滴直径< 500 nm），制备了一系列Pickering纳米乳剂。这种处理是在过量纳米颗粒存在下通过高压微流化进行的。随着额外的表面积的产生，新的新生油滴被过量的纳米颗粒包覆，从而稳定了纳米乳液。原则上，皮克林纳米乳液配方应该为阿什兰的专有油提供新的应用，因为较小的液滴尺寸应该会导致更快的皮肤渗透。该博士生将设计定制的纳米颗粒，使用阿什兰的专有油制备Pickering纳米乳液，利用各种分析技术对这种纳米乳液进行分析，并评估其在家庭和个人护理产品中的潜在应用。

Emulsions comprise microscopic droplets of a liquid (e.g. oil) dispersed within a second immiscible liquid (e.g. water). A Pickering emulsion is a special type of emulsion in which the droplets are coated with tiny particles, which prevent droplet coalescence. Ashland is a specialty chemicals company that has recently commercialised a sustainable soya bean-derived triglyceride oil, which has applications in sun care, skin care and colour cosmetics. Prof. Armes has two decades of experience in Pickering emulsions and has recently prepared a series of Pickering nanoemulsions by processing an initially coarse Pickering emulsion to generate much finer oil droplets (mean droplet diameter < 500 nm). Such processing is conducted in the presence of excess nanoparticles via high-pressure microfluidisation. As additional surface area is created, the new nascent oil droplets are coated by the excess nanoparticles, thus stabilising the nanoemulsion. In principle, Pickering nanoemulsion formulations should offer new applications for Ashland's proprietary oil because the smaller droplet size should lead to much faster skin penetration. The PhD student will design bespoke nanoparticles to prepare Pickering nanoemulsions using Ashland's proprietary oil, characterise such nanoemulsions utilising various analytical techniques, and evaluate potential applications in the context of home & personal care products.