This work meant that surfactants could be directed towards specific points or removed from a mixture just by applying a magnet.
Now, the team has expanded the use of this surfactant by making magnetically responsive emulsions with magnetic surfactant stabilisers.
Professor Eastoe said: “Compared to nanoparticle-stabilised magnetic emulsions, a major advantage of these magnetic surfactants is the simple synthesis and purification, offering new possibilities for molecular design of specialist surfactants.
"For example, replacing the surfactant alkyl tails with fluorocarbons could result in supercritical CO2-compatible magnetic responsive emulsions for oil and gas field flooding.”
Paper
‘Magnetic emulsions with responsive surfactants’ by Paul Brown, Craig P. Butts, Jing Cheng, Julian Eastoe, Christopher A. Russell and Gregory N. Smith in Soft Matter
Further information
Bristol scientists produce world’s first magnetic soap (Press release 23 Jan 2012)
The discovery received widespread media coverage around the world.