Study on influencing factors of Pickering emulsion stabilized by modified montmorillonite and fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether

Pickering emulsion is widely used in food, drug administration, and cosmetics. In practical applications, surfactants are often co-present with particles, so it is particularly critical to study particle-surfactant interactions. Pickering emulsions were prepared using stearyltrimethylammoniumchloride organic montmorillonite (STAC/MMT) and fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether (AEO-3) as stabilizers. Effects of AEO-3 content, STAC/MMT content, oil-water ratio, emulsification temperature, emulsification time on emulsion stability were systematically revealed by studying the particle size distribution and phase volume of the emulsion. The formulation of emulsion was optimized by orthogonal experiment and the mechanism of this emulsion system was proposed. The results indicated that the oil-water volume ratio was closely related to the type of emulsification, and when STAC/MMT and AEO-3 were used together, stable W/O emulsions were obtained owing to the synergistic interaction. The orthogonal experiments showed that the emulsion had good static and thermal stability when the STAC/MMT content was 2.0%, the oil-water volume ratio was 1:1, AEO-3 content was 0.25% and emulsification time was 5 minutes. The stability mechanism of this Pickering emulsion was that AEO-3 was used to improve the surface properties of STAC/MMT particles and enhance their emulsifying capacity.