Pickering emulsion systems have created new opportunities for two-phase biocatalysis, however their catalytic performance is often hindered by biphasic mass transfer process relying on the interfacial area. In this study, lipase-immobilized mesoporous silica particles (LMSPs) are employed as both Pickering stabilizers and biocatalysts. A series of alkyl silanes with the different carbon length are used to modify LMSPs to obtain suitable wettability and enlarge the interfacial area of Pickering emulsion. The results show the water/paraffin oil Pickering emulsions stabilized by 8 carbon atoms silane grafted LMSPs (LMSPs_C8) with a three-phase contact angles of 95° get the relatively large interfacial area. Moreover, the conversion of enzymatic reaction catalyzed by LMSPs_C8 Pickering emulsion system is 3.4 times higher than that unmodified LMSPs with the reaction time of 10 min. Additionally, the effective recycling of LMSPs is achieved by simple low-speed centrifugation. As evidenced by a 6-cycles reaction of remaining 75% of relative enzymatic activity, the protection of 350–450 nm mesoporous silica particles can alleviate the inactivation of enzyme from the shear stress and make a benefit to form stabile Pickering emulsion. Therefore, the biphasic reactions in the Pickering emulsion system can be effectively enhanced through changing interfacial area only by the means of adjusting the wettability of biocatalysts.
pH-Responsive Pickering emulsion stabilized by polymer-coated silica nanoaggregates and applied to recyclable interfacial catalysis