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Unintended post-synthesis growth of noble metal colloids caused by excess amounts of reactants or highly reactive atom clusters represents a fundamental problem in colloidal chemistry, affecting product stability or purity. Hence, quantified kinetics could allow defining nanoparticle size determination in dependence of the time. Here, we investigate in situ the growth kinetics of ps pulsed laser-fragmented platinum nanoparticles in presence of naked atom clusters in water without any influence of reducing agents or surfactants. The nanoparticle growth is investigated for platinum covering a time scale of minutes to 50 days after nanoparticle generation, it is also supplemented by results obtained from gold and palladium. Since a minimum atom cluster concentration is exceeded, a significant growth is determined by time resolved UV/Vis spectroscopy, analytical disc centrifugation, zeta potential measurement and transmission electron microscopy. We suggest a decrease of atom cluster concentration over time, since nanoparticles grow at the expense of atom clusters. The growth mechanism during early phase (<1 day) of laser-synthesized colloid is kinetically modeled by rapid barrierless coalescence. The prolonged slow nanoparticle growth is kinetically modeled by a combination of coalescence and Lifshitz–Slyozov–Wagner kinetic for Ostwald ripening, validated experimentally by the temperature dependence of Pt nanoparticle size and growth quenching by Iodide anions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Hierarchical flower-like Al2(O3PC6H5)3·H2O microspheres were synthesized. [•] The growth mechanism relies on Ostwald ripening and oriented attachment. [•] The hierarchical nanoporous AlPO4 micro-flowers were obtained by sintering. [•] Peptide enrichment properties were demonstrated and proved to be promising. [•] A general synthesis procedure is developed for metal phosphonate spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The shelf stability of nanoemulsions made by ultrasound, phase inversion composition, and the Ouzo effect was studied using a range of hydrocarbons, as the model oils, and surfactants. The cube of the average drop radius of the nanoemulsions displayed a linear increase with time. Both Ostwald ripening and coalescence can exhibit such behaviour. A new approach, based on the time evolution of drop size distribution, is proposed for unravelling the aging mechanism of nanoemulsions. Sequences of fall and rise in the average drop size of nanoemulsions were clearly observed. The decrease in the drop size could unambiguously be attributed to Ostwald ripening, but the increase could be due to either Ostwald ripening or coalescence/flocculation. Coalescence was identified as the dominant growth mechanism at low surfactant concentrations evidenced by drop size distribution broadening with time associated with the rise in the average drop size. Ostwald ripening was the dominant mechanism at higher surfactant concentrations where the drop size distributions broadened with time during the falls and narrowed with time during the rises of the average drop size. The nanoemulsions produced via the Ouzo process, displayed a coalescence-dependent transient stage and an Ostwald ripening dominated asymptotic regime in the absence of surfactant. The nanoemulsion produced via phase inversion was found to be the most stable one, however, still showed vulnerability to Ostwald ripening and flocculation in the long term. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Birnessite flower-like and α-type tubular MnO2 nanostructures were selectively synthesized through simple decomposition of KMnO4 under hydrochloric acid condition by controlling reaction temperature using a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. The as-prepared samples were characterized in detail by various techniques including X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, and Raman scattering spectroscopy. While the growth of flower-like birnessite-MnO2 might follow a widely accepted Ostwald ripening process, we proposed a formation mechanism of the nanotubular α-MnO2 based on our evidence, which was assembly of nanorods through an “oriented attachment” process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Paraffin oil-in-water nano-emulsions stabilized by Tween 80/Span 80 were prepared using the emulsion inversion point method at different emulsification temperatures. Nano-emulsions with droplet size below 200 nm were formed above a critical surfactant-to-oil ratio of 0.20 at 50 °C. The main destabilization mechanism of the systems was found to be Ostwald ripening. An interesting phenomenon was that the Ostwald ripening rate declined as the surfactant concentration rose. Furthermore, flocculation was also found to contribute to the instability of the nano-emulsions, especially for those with low surfactant concentrations. Study on the electrophoretic properties of emulsion droplets revealed a negative value of the zeta potential, which was strongly dependent on the pH of the systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Controlling stability and aging of emulsions is important from commercial and scientific perspectives. Achieving such control comes through gaining an understanding of the relationship between emulsion constituents and microstructure and how these influence the kinetics and mechanism of destabilisation. We present here an investigation determining the rate of destabilisation as a function of time for a series of water/n-alkane/Triton X-100 oil-in-water emulsions. The time dependence of the emulsions was investigated using static light scattering, PFG-NMR and measurement of gross phase separation. By changing the chain length of the oil from hexane to tetradecane, an almost five orders of magnitude variation in emulsion lifetime could be achieved, while maintaining most of the other chemical and physical characteristics of the emulsions. Further, we show that while Ostwald ripening is the dominant destabilisation mechanism, two distinct regimes are evident. Initially, we observed an enhanced Ostwald ripening regime due to the presence of oil-swollen micelles in the aqueous continuum, that is a depletion flocculation mechanism is followed. The presence of oil-swollen micelles was confirmed using PFG-NMR. The micelles aid the gross oil transport between the discrete oil domains. Upon phase separation the oil-swollen micelles are predominantly removed from the emulsion along with the excess water resulting in a concomitant reduction in the ripening rate, producing the more general Ostwald ripening cubic dependence of droplet radius as a function of time for the lower molecular weight oils. The oils with higher molecular weight (decane and above), however, were observed to switch over to destabilisation via creaming. PFG-NMR was shown to be a powerful technique to fully probe emulsion microstructure as a function of time with droplet size and spacing being directly obtained from the data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The reaction between silver nitrate and poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) in pyridine at ambient conditions could lead to the formation of spherical nanoparticles or quadrilateral and triangular silver nanoplates, depending on the silver-to-PVP ratio used. It is proposed that the spherical Ag nanoparticles, which were formed early in the reaction, were transformed into nanoplates through an Ostwald ripening process driven by the bridging flocculation of small spherical Ag nanoparticles. This unique and hitherto unreported shape evolution process was carefully followed by a combination of techniques, viz., UV–visible spectroscopy, TEM, and powder X-ray diffraction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aging mechanisms of perfluorocarbon emulsions were investigated using image analysis. Oil-in-water emulsions of two perfluorocarbons, n-perfluorohexane and perfluorodecalin, were prepared with three emulsifiers, Lecithin, Span 20, and Pluronic F-68. The effect of the temperature and the replacement of water by an aqueous phase consisting of a microbial culture medium were also studied. The emulsions were prepared by sonication and their stability was followed through analysis of the evolution of mean droplet size. The results indicate that the stability of perfluorocarbon in water emulsions depends on all the parameters investigated and that two aging mechanisms, coalescence and molecular diffusion, may take place. Analysis of the evolution of the mean droplet size during long time periods indicate that coalescence is more common than previously reported for these systems and seems to be favored by a temperature increase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]