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Letter

Nature Materials 6, 966–971 (1 December 2007) | doi:10.1038/nmat2055

Bicontinuous emulsions stabilized solely by colloidal particles

E. M. Herzig , K. A. White , A. B. Schofield , W. C. K. Poon & P. S. Clegg

Recent large-scale computer simulations suggest that it may be possible to create a new class of soft solids, called |[lsquo]|bijels|[rsquo]|, by stabilizing and arresting the bicontinuous interface in a binary liquid demixing via spinodal decomposition using particles that are neutrally wetted by both liquids. The interfacial layer of particles is expected to be semi-permeable; hence, if realized, these new materials would have many potential applications, for example, as micro-reaction media.