Well-defined polyelectrolyte nanocages with monolayer-thick shell have been obtained as one-to-one precisely polymerized copies of the surfactant monolayers absorbed on crystallized nanodroplets. Oil-in-water miniemulsions were prepared from water, n-docosane and acryoyl-functionalized surfactants at 50 �C. Then the miniemulsions were cooled to allow the crystallization of the oil nanodroplets. With a long n-alkane tail in each surfactant molecule, the self-assembled monolayers of surfactants were strongly absorbed by the crystallized nanodroplets. With the presence of a photoinitiator, interfacial radical polymerization of the acryloyl groups of surfactants induced by UV irradiation yielded crosslinked surfactant monolayers with surface morphology and dimensions accurately copied from the crystallized nanodroplets. Polyelectrolyte nanocages were obtained after dialysis to remove oil. The polyelectrolyte nanocages were characterized by NMR, DLS, FT-IR, TEM, and AFM. Their shell thickness of 0.4 nm was determined by AFM analysis. Having charged amphiphilic monolayer-thick shells, these polymeric nanocages potentially may have broad applications.

Novel polyelectrolyte nanocages via “crystal-forming” miniemulsions

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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