High Fraction Nano-Emulsions: A Vapor Condensation Breakthrough

Nanoscale emulsions are crucial in the food and pharmaceutical industries, enhancing product stability and facilitating targeted drug delivery with improved efficacy[1]. Commercial emulsification relies heavily on the use of power-intensive homogenizers, which often produce sharp temperature changes that can degrade the quality of emulsions. The present work addresses these problems using a novel energy-efficient vapor condensation technique. Previous research using this technique has successfully generated a wide range of emulsions, including water-in-oil (W/O), oil-in-water (O/W), and Pickering emulsions [2-3]. However, these studies were limited to creating emulsions with a low dispersed phase fraction (<0.2), Φ_d = V_d/V_t, where V_d, V_t are the dispersed phase volume and total volume of the emulsion. Here, we have developed an intelligent system that offers an effective engineering solution to increase the Φ_d(> 0.8) significantly. Additionally, our innovative design allows for precise control over the growth of nucleated droplets, resulting in highly uniform, nanometer-scale emulsions. This advancement overcomes a significant limitation of the vapor condensation technique, paving the way for its commercialization and large-scale industrial applications