A novel surfactant-free microemulsion system:: N,N-dimethyl formamide/furaldehyde/H2O

Generally, a microemulsion consists of oil, water, surfactant and sometimes cosurfactant. Herein, for the first time to our knowledge, a novel surfactant-free microemulsion (SFME), consisting of furaldehyde (oil phase), water and N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) without the amphiphilic molecular structure of traditional surfactant is reported. The phase behavior of the ternary system was investigated, finding that a single-phase microemulsion region and a two-phase region were formed. The electrical conductivity measurement was employed to investigate the single-phase microemulsion region. On the basis of the percolation theory, the single-phase microemulsion region was identified to consist of three different microregions: furaldehyde-in-water (O/W), bicontinuous region and water-in-furaldehyde (W/O), which were further proved by freeze-fracture transmission electron microscopy (FF-TEM) observations. The diameter of the microemulsion spherical droplets is in the range of 40-70 nm.