“Janus Beads”: Realization and Behaviour at Water/Oil Interfaces

We have prepared glass spherical particles, with one hemisphere hydrophilic, and the other one hydrophobic. These objects, named "Janus beads", may be considered as amphiphilic solids. We have studied the properties of such beads at oil/water interfaces and point out that they do behave differently from ordinary solid particles. These observations are interpreted semi-quantitatively and open up the way to further prospects and applications.