BICONTINUOUS INTERFACIALLY JAMMED EMULSION GELS (BIJELS) ARE A NEW CLASS OF MULTIPHASE SOFT MATERIALS WITH INTERPENETRATING TUBULAR ARRANGEMENT OF TWO IMMISCIBLE LIQUIDS SEPARATED BY A MONOLAYER OF COLLOIDAL PARTICLES (FIGURE LA).' THE EXISTENCE OF THESE MATERIALS WAS INITIALLY POSTULATED BY COMPUTER SIMULATIONS IN 2005 ^ FOLLOWED BY THEIR FIRST EXPERIMENTAL REALIZATION IN 2007 ^ BOTH BY RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBIUGH. THE REMARKABLE MORPHOLOGY OF BIJELS IS THE RESULT OF KINETIC ARREST BY INTERFACIAL JAMMING DURING SPINODAL DECOMPOSITION OF A BINARY'* * OR TERNARY* LIQUID MIXTURE AND THEREFORE BEARS THE DISTINCTIVE GEOMETRICAL SIGNATURES OF THIS DEMIXING PROCESS. FOR EXAMPLE THE CONSTITUENT PHASES (TWO LIQUIDS AND THE COLLOIDAL PARTICLES) ARE INDEPENDENTLY CONTINUOUS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SAMPLE VOLUME. ALSO THE CHARACTERISTIC DOMAIN SIZE FOR EACH FLUID PHASE IS RELATIVELY UNIFORM THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM. THESE DISTINCT MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS CONFER EXCLUSIVE POTENTIAL TECHNOLOGICAL UTILITY TO THESE MATERIALS. NAMELY BECAUSE OF THE INHERENT ABILITY TO REALIZE INDEPENDENTLY PERCOLATING PHASES WITH TUNABLE INTERPHASE CONTACT AREA AND IMIFORM DOMAIN SIZE THROUGHOUT THE SAMPLE BIJEL-DERIVED MATERIALS FIND A DIVERSE ARRAY OF POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS IN ELECTROCHEMICAL ENERGY CONVERSION AND STORAGE TISSUE ENGINEENNG ' SENSING ' MICROSTRUCTURED COMPOSITES WITH OPTIMIZED MECHANICAL PROPERTIES FOR MEMS ^* ^ MICROFLUIDIC HEAT EXCHANGERS AND CATALYTIC REFORMERS SEPARATIONS AND MORE. FOR EXAMPLE THE COCONTINUOUS MORPHOLOGY OF BIJEL-DERIVED MATERIALS CAN FACILITATE LOW-RESISTANCE PATHS FOR SIMULTANEOUS ION AND ELECTRON TRANSPORT TO AND FROM REACTIVE SITES IN ELECTROCHEMICAL SYSTEMS FOR ENERGY CONVERSION AND SENSING UNIFORM AND CONNECTED PORE CHANNELS FOR EFFICIENT NUTRIENT TRANSPORT AND CELL MOTILITY IN TISSUE ENGINEERING SCAFFOLDS AND UNIQUE COMBINATIONS OF STIFFHESS STRENGTH AND DAMPING IN MEMS COMPONENTS TO LIST A FEW.^^ BIJELS HAVE ALSO BEEN ENVISIONED AS CROSS-FLOW MICROFLUIDIC REACTORS ' DUE TO THE 3D INTERPENETRATING CONFIGURATION OF THEIR ' F . -.{N* ^ }L FIGURE 1. CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY IMAGE OF A BIJEL (A) AND EXAMPLE SEM IMAGES OF MICROSTRUCTURED MATERIALS DERIVED FROM BIJELS; B) MACROPOROUS SILICON CARBIDE; C) HIERARCHICALLY POROUS NICKEL-PHOSPHOROUS; D) SPINODAL-LIKE NICKEL-PHOSPHOROUS SHELL. SCALE BARS DENOTE A B C) 50 PM D) 10 PM INSET OF C) 500 NM. 7-12 13-17 18-20 IMMISCIBLE FLUID CHANNELS. THE PI S GROUP WAS THE FIRST TO SHOW HOW THE BICONTINUOUS MORPHOLOGY AND MULTIPHASE NATURE OF THESE MATERIALS MAY BE EXPLOITED FOR TEMPLATE-BASED SYNTHESIS OF HIERARCHICALLY POROUS MONOLITHS AND COMPOSITES AS A PATH TO BETTER MATERIALS FOR ENERGY APPLICATIONS AND HUMAN HEALTH (FIGURE ]) '2.I6.3O-32