Cover Picture: Tuneable Control of Interfacial Rheology and Emulsion Coalescence (ChemPhysChem 5/2009)

The cover picture illustrates a microfluidic dodecane-in-water emulsion stabilized by the designed peptide surfactant AM1, which forms a cohesive interfacial layer through reversible interaction with ZnII. Deformed coagulated droplets are stabilized against coalescence in the presence of an elastic interfacial layer, but coalesce rapidly following ZnII chelation with EDTA. A. P. J. Middelberg et al show on page 778 that coalescence rate can be controlled by altering interfacial rheology and hence the dynamics of thin film rupture.