Particle Formation from Microemulsions: A Survey

Abstract

We have now come to the stage of this book where it is proposed to make an extensive survey of the experiments carried out in different laboratories on the synthesis of nanoparticles via microemulsions. It will be noted by the reader that a situation has been built up through the Chapters 1–3 where the basic issues involved in particle synthesis, e.g. reverse micelle formation, reverse microemulsions and related phase diagrams, tailoring of water pools and the fusion-fission phenomena of the water pools have been described without going into intricate (for the purpose of this book) details for which a large volume of literature exists, and using simple terms more for visualization required in practical success than for theoretical appreciation. Before we go into the survey, there are two more topics which will be introduced below: the major methods and their choice in microemulsion-mediated synthesis of particles and possible tailoring of particle size and shape as a function of factors like water/surfactant molar ratio. These summaries will assist the reader in relating the general observations to specific cases described in this chapter or in real life situations.