Understanding acid-glycol switchable emulsifiers on the molecular scale.

Switchable emulsifiers are commonly studied at the macroscopic scale without significant insight into the molecular properties and processes underpinning their behaviour. This work aims to investigate on the molecular scale a switchable emulsifier comprising poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) and poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA). This emulsifier forms stable oil/water emulsions at pH > 10, but the emulsion becomes unstable at pH < 3 due to droplet aggregation.