Smart Foams: Switching Reversibly between Ultrastable and Unstable Foams

Anne-Laure Fameau (1, 2) , Arnaud Saint-Jalmes (3) , Fabrice Cousin (2) , Bérénice Houinsou-Houssou (1) , Bruno Novales (1) , Laurence Navailles (4) , Frédéric Nallet (4) , Cédric Gaillard (1) , François Boué (2) , Jean-Paul Douliez (1)

1 BIA - Unité de recherche sur les Biopolymères, Interactions Assemblages
2 LLB - UMR 12 - Laboratoire Léon Brillouin
3 IPR - Institut de Physique de Rennes
4 CRPP - Centre de recherches Paul Pascal

Ultrastable foams with an optimal foamability have been obtained using hydroxyl fatty acids tubes. The stabilization results from the adsorption of monomers at the air-water interface preventing coalescence and coarsening and from the presence of tubes in the Plateau borders limiting the drainage. Upon heating, tubes transit to micelles, which induces foam destabilization. Such foams are thus the first to have a temperature tunable stability.

Mots clés: Foams; Fatty acids; Tubes; Self-assembly; Interfaces

Domaines: Polymères; Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]

Anne-Laure Fameau, Arnaud Saint-Jalmes, Fabrice Cousin, Bérénice Houinsou-Houssou, Bruno Novales, et al.. Smart Foams: Switching Reversibly between Ultrastable and Unstable Foams. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2011, 50 (36), pp.8264-8269. ⟨10.1002/anie.201102115⟩. ⟨hal-00618681⟩