Comprehensive study of a novel surfactant-free microemulsion including amyl acetate / ethanol / water: Simulation, properties and its applications in solubilization and material preparation

Abstract

How to improve the performance of synthesized materials through solvent design has always been a challenge in the field of nanomaterials. In this work, a novel surfactant-free microemulsion (SFME) containing amyl acetate, ethanol and water was selected as a typical solvent system, and ZnO was synthesized as a representative nanomaterial. A comprehensive and in-depth exploration was carried out by combining theoretical and experimental methods. Dissipative particle dynamics simulation was used to predict the formation of SFME, and the microstructures can be clearly exhibited. Then the ternary phase diagram of SFME was plotted, and the solubilizations of CoCl₂ and riboflavin in the SFME were investigated to verify the microstructures of SFME, which is consistent with the simulation results. Further, water in oil SFME was used as a probe to investigate the synthetic template effect. The influences of reaction time and temperature on the growth mechanism of ZnO were revealed. Methylene blue can be degraded more than 90 % in 70 min by the synthesized nanomaterial, which is better than other photocatalysts. It is expected that this work can provide some inspiration and ideas for the expansion of SFME application and the improvement of nanomaterial performance.