Bijels and methods of making the same

A bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion that is a bijel having temperature-independent stability, the bijel made according to:

• dispersing surface-active nanoparticles into a monophasic ternary liquid mixture to give rise to a loaded mixture, a surface-active nanoparticle having a water-soluble ionic surfactant associated thereon,
• wherein the monophasic ternary liquid mixture comprises a hydrophilic liquid, a hydrophobic liquid, and a solvent,
• wherein the hydrophilic liquid comprises (i) a liquid that comprises at least one of water, ethylene glycol, and ethane diol, (ii) a polymerizable monomer, or (iii) a combination of the liquid and the polymerizable monomer,
• wherein the hydrophobic liquid comprises (i) a liquid that comprises at least one of diethyl phthalate, dimethylphthalate, 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate, 1,6-diacetoxyhexane, trimethylolpropane triacrylate, dipentaerythritol pentaacrylate, triacetin, toluene, chloroform, laurylacrylate, butylacrylate, decanol, styrene, and oleic acid, (ii) a polymerizable monomer, or (iii) a combination of the liquid and the polymerizable monomer,
• wherein the solvent comprises at least one of ethanol, acetic acid, methanol, propanol, tetrahydrofuran, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), or acetone, and
• wherein the surface-active nanoparticles are equally wettable by both the hydrophilic liquid and the hydrophobic liquid;
• and
• contacting the loaded mixture with water so as to initiate phase separation through spinodal decomposition and induce mass transfer of the solvent and give rise to the bijel.