Water-in-water emulsions are ternary mixtures consisting of water and two incompatible hydrophilic polymers. Although they have great potential for use in the formulation of compartmentalized pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food products, their use is limited by their inherent instability. In the last decade, significant efforts have been made to develop stabilizers, but the link between their chemical composition and their ability to adsorb and wet the water/water interface remains poorly understood.
The MUlti-SCAle compartmentalizeD all-aquEous sysTems (MUSCADET) project aims to develop multi-scale compartmentalized aqueous systems by adsorbing particles consisting of two polyelectrolytes with opposite charges functionalized by neutral hydrophilic polymer segments, which form core-corona structures, namely complex coacervate core micelles, at the interface. The composition of these colloidal particles will be adapted to optimize their ability to stabilize water-in-water emulsions, adopting a strategy based on well-defined structures through the use of synthetic block copolymers. These particles will provide additional functionality to the systems, in particular thanks to their core composed of a polyelectrolyte complex, which is by itself an additional compartment, smaller in size than the emulsion droplets but close to them thanks to their adsorption at the interface.
