Back to the future: Fatty acids, the green genie to design smart soft materials

Fatty acids are widely used in industries for various applications as soaps or in their crystalline form. Fatty acid soaps are used as surface-active agent to stabilize foams and emulsions, for detergency, and surface wetting. Fatty acid molecules in organic solvents are used as low-molecular-mass organic gelators. Currently, there is a renewed interest in using fatty acids in industrial applications instead of petrochemical surfactants since fatty acid soaps are green surfactants. Fatty acids exhibit also many advantages, including the design of responsive soft-materials. Fatty acid soaps are natural pH and thermoresponsive surfactants, which can lead to responsive foams and emulsions. In their crystalline form, fatty acid crystals in both aqueous and non-aqueous solvents stabilize liquid foams. These crystals are also efficient in the production of liquid marbles. Fatty acids are solvosurfactants with the ability to form microemulsions and capillary suspensions. In this review, we illustrate how fatty acid molecules can be used in the manufacture of multiresponsive soft-materials ranging from aqueous and non-aqueous foams, emulsions, nanoemulsions, microemulsions, liquid marbles and capillary suspensions.

Automated summary

Fatty acids are versatile compounds used in various industries for their soap and crystalline forms. They can be used as surface-active agents, gelators, and stabilizers for foams and emulsions. There is a growing interest in using fatty acids as green surfactants in place of petrochemicals. Fatty acids have the ability to design responsive soft-materials and can be used in the manufacturing of aqueous and non-aqueous foams, emulsions, nanoemulsions, liquid marbles, and capillary suspensions.