Institut Charles Sadron Event

The aim of this thesis is to create foams with air bubbles coated with a polymeric skin. The process involves depositing layers of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes on the surface of the bubbles, forming 'bubbloons'. The first part of the thesis focuses on the formation and characterisation of the polymeric skin using dilatometric interfacial rheology methods. Experiments were carried out to study the conditions of adsorption of polyelectrolytes at the liquid/air interface and to measure the elastic and viscous dilatational moduli. The second part of the thesis focuses on the shear rheology of polyelectrolyte multilayers adsorbed on a flat interface. The elastic and viscous shear moduli were measured for different multilayer configurations by varying the experimental parameters more systematically. Finally, the third part of the thesis concerns the production of bubbles armored with a polyelectrolyte skin using a microfluidic device. An innovative device based on stacked microfluidic chips has been developed to generate monodisperse bubbles and allow polyelectrolyte adsorption. All this work is contributing to the creation of a new class of metamaterials with unique structural properties. Keywords: Polyelectrolyte, Multilayer, Liquid/air interface, Rheology, Microfluidics