Surface phase transitions in foams and emulsions

Surface phase transitions in surfactant adsorption layers are known to affect the dynamic properties of foams and to induce surface nucleation in freezing emulsion drops. Recently, these transitions were found to play a role in several other phenomena, opening new opportunities for controlling foam and emulsion properties. This review presents a brief outlook of the emerging opportunities in this area. Three topics are emphasized: (1) the use of surfactant mixtures for inducing phase transitions on bubble surfaces in foams; (2) the peculiar properties of natural surfactants saponins, which form extremely viscoelastic surface layers; and (3) the main phenomena in emulsions, for which the surface phase transitions are important. The overall conclusion from the reviewed literature is that surface phase transitions could be used as a powerful tool to control many foam and emulsion properties, but we need deeper understanding of the underlying phenomena to fully explore these opportunities.