Stability of W/O Nanoemulsions with Low Viscosity Prepared by PIC Method

Abstract

: In this study, water-in-oil (W/O) nanoemulsions of water/Span 80-Nikkol BL 25/oil system were prepared by the PIC method at elevated temperature. This method allows the formation of finely dispersed W/O nanoemulsions with low viscosity in this system. However, macroemulsions rather than nanoemulsions were prepared by PIC method at room temperature. As a result of the significant change of interfacial tension with temperature, the emulsion droplet size de-creases from 2 µ m to 100 nm with the increase in temperature from 30 ℃ to 80 ℃ . The droplet size of nanoemulsions prepared at 80 ℃ was in the range of 50 ∼ 200 nm and the internal phase content could reach as high as 15 wt%. The most stable nanoemulsion was formed in the vicinity of 7.0 of optimum HLB of the emulsifier mixture. The ob-tained nanoemulsions were stable without obvious change in droplet size in one month. This study provides valuable information for optimizing the formation of W/O nanoemulsions with low viscosity. These results suggest that W/O nanoemulsions of low viscosity could be useful for cosmetics with soft feeling.