It is of great importance to maintain the stability of emulsions in order to perform their functions. However, emulsions are usually thermodynamic unfavorable systems that require a large amount of energy to prepare and high concentration emulsifiers to maintain the stability. This study presents a simple, rapid emulsifying system that can prepare highly stable emulsions in a low-energy manner. The spontaneous formation of emulsion droplets is driven by the neutralization reaction between fatty acids and triethylamine. Moreover, the accumulation of the reaction products at the water-oil interfaces can stabilize the emulsion droplets. Compared with emulsions prepared by fatty acid triethylamine salts, the spontaneous emulsifying system exhibits a superior emulsifying effect and yields emulsions with improved stability. A combination of systematic interfacial measurements, viscoelastic characterization and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations is used to elucidate the mechanism of spontaneous emulsification and emulsion stabilization. This straightforward, rapid, and reaction-driven emulsification strategy offers a new approach to achieving spontaneous emulsification and provides a novel method of preparing stable emulsions.
Luo et al. (2026) studied this question.