Phase inversion of particle-stabilized materials from foams to dry water

Small particles attached to liquid surfaces arise in many products and processes, including crude-oil emulsions and food foams and in flotation, and there is a revival of interest in studying their behaviour. Colloidal particles of suitable wettability adsorb strongly to liquid–liquid and liquid–vapour interfaces1, and can be sole stabilizers of emulsions2 and foams3, respectively. New materials, including colloidosomes4, anisotropic particles5 and porous solids6, have been prepared by assembling particles at such interfaces. Phase inversion of particle-stabilized emulsions from oil in water to water in oil can be achieved either by variation of the particle hydrophobicity (transitional)7 or by variation of the oil/water ratio (catastrophic)8. Here we describe the phase inversion of particle-stabilized air–water systems, from air-in-water foams to water-in-air powders and vice versa. This inversion can be driven either by a progressive change in silica-particle hydrophobicity at constant air/water ratio or by changing the air/water ratio at fixed particle wettability, and has not been observed in the corresponding systems stabilized by surfactants. The simplicity of the work is that this novel inversion is achieved in a single system. The resultant materials in which either air or water become encapsulated have potential applications in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.