4. Conclusion

microemulsion technique (glyceryl monostearate/oleic acid/soy lecithin). Kanwar et al. [65] for the first time employed the cationic lipid (didodecylammonium bromide) as the core lipid and formulated its cationic NLCs (of the size 160 nm and >30 mV zeta potential) using microemulsification method. Chanburee and Tiyaboonchai [66] fabricated curcumin-loaded NLCs (consisting of AOT, Tween 80, ethanol as the water phase; and Emulmetik 900, glyceryl monostearate, stearic acid, lexol as the oil phase) and simultaneously prepared polymer-coated NLCs (using polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol, and chitosan as the polymers). They showed that the polymer-coated NLCs exhibit greater mucoadhesion properties and

Microemulsions as nanotemplates have engraved a prominent place despite the

Application of nanoparticles

In situ hydroprocessing of crude oil

Catalysis [67]

Drug delivery [68]

Sensing [70, 71]

Drug Delivery [72]

Drug delivery [73]

Antibacterial activity

Reference

[17]

[69]

microemulsion technique, distinct NPs, viz. metallic NPs, PNPs, QDs, MSN, SLNs, NLCs, etc., have been reported. The synthesized NPs have found applications in various fields like catalysis, delivery of drugs and diagnostics, sensing, etc. The recent trend of NPs derived from microemulsion method has been tabulated

presence of innumerable methods for fabrication of NPs. Exploiting the

Microemulsion system (surfactant/

precursor and sodium borohydride as reducing

(Sodium dodecyl-benzenesulfonate/citric acid/ toulene/1-hexanol), nickel (II) nitrate hexahydrate, iron(III) nitrate nonahydrate, ammonium molybdate tetrahydrate as precursor and sodium borohydride as reducing

Aniline/ammonium peroxydisulfate in W/O microemulsion(triton X 100/cyclohexane/1 butanol), silver nitrate, sodium borohydride as

Triton X-100/1-hexyl alcohol/cyclohexane/

6. MSN CTAB/polydecene/cyclohexane and TEOS Catalysis [52] 7. SLNs Glyceryl monostearate/poloxamer 123 Catalysis [60]

10. NLCs Glyceryl monostearate/oleic acid/soy lecithin Drug delivery [74]

cosurfactant/oil/water)

1. Ag (n-Hexane/ethanol/water), silver nitrate as

agent

agent

3. PMMA Tween 80/ammonium persulfate/methyl

reducing agent

methacrylate/quercetin hydrate

hydrophobic CdSe/ZnS QDs

biliary salt/α-linolenic acid/water

8. SLNs α-Tocopheryl linoleate/Tween 20/1-butanol/

9. NLCs Stearic acid/castor oil/Imwitor 900/Tween 80/ sodium deoxy cholate

Recent overview of nanoparticles derived from the microemulsion method.

physical stability than the uncoated NLCs.

Microemulsion - A Chemical Nanoreactor

3. Applications

in Table 1.

S. no. Type of nanoparticles

2. Ni, Mo, Fe (transition nanoparticles)

4. PAni and Ag/ PAni

5. Silica-coated CdSe/ZnS QDs

Table 1.

50

Microemulsions as nanotemplates have emerged as a soft and versatile approach for the fabrication of distinct nanoassemblies owing to their special ability to tune the particle properties such as the morphology, particle size, geometry, surface properties (activity and selectivity), etc. In this present chapter, a brief description of microemulsions as nanoreactors has been highlighted, stating the type of microemulsions (W/O or bicontinuous or O/W microemulsions) employed for generating different nanoparticles, including the mechanism involved behind the formation of nanoparticles using the microemulsion method. A detailed account of numerous nanoparticles such as metallic nanoparticles, quantum dots, polymeric nanoparticles, mesoporous silica nanoparticles, solid lipid nanoparticles, and nanostructured lipid carriers prepared from microemulsion method have been discussed, comprising their history, evolution, preparation, and applications. Although innumerable applications of the fabricated nanoassemblies have been reported, however, still the inbuilt potential of these exuberant nanocarriers has not been exploited completely.
