Gels and Oil-in-Water Emulsions: a Stepwise, Rheology- and Tribology-Focused Approach

Gels and oil-in-water emulsions are widely used in food, pharmaceutical, and personal care applications. In the case of emulsions, they can be either stabilized by an amphiphilic molecule, forming classical emulsions, or by colloidal particles, forming a Pickering emulsion. These systems exhibit rich rheological and frictional characteristics and factors such as component concentration and/or interactions can affect their final properties. Thus, their characterization is fundamental to understanding their performance from product development to final use. This dissertation provides insights on how to manipulate properties of multicomponent gels and emulsions based on their components, guiding the formulation of products with desired rheological and lubrication properties. For that, we focus on two groups of systems: 1) classical oil-in-water emulsions containing microgel-forming polymers and phospholipids as well as several simplified versions of these systems, and 2) Pickering emulsions stabilized by nanodiamond particles.