Polyelectrolyte-based micro(nano)capsules are attractive carriers of various sensitive substances (e.g. drugs, dyes, proteins). They are also desired as microreactors for catalytic, photochemical reactions. The crucial features of such capsules are their mechanical robustness, long-term stability and controlled loading/unloading capabilities.<br/>We demonstrated a facile route to incorporate carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into polyelectrolyte microcapsules walls by precipitation method. CNTs were co-precipitated within porous CaCO3 microparticles that served as templates. After removal of the cores the hollow capsules with CNTs crossing and stabilizing the walls were obtained. Very significant reinforcement of the capsules and reduction of overall permeability of the walls was observed. Importantly, the permeability of the capsules could be tuned by irradiation with nearIR light absorbed by CNTs enabling facile loading/unloading of the cargo molecules.<br/>Novel micro(nano)capsules with oil liquid cores stabilized with amphiphilic graft polyelectrolytes were also developed. The formed core–shell nanocapsules were shown to serve as high capacity and long-term stability reservoirs of lipophilic molecules. The nanocapsules with magnetic nanoparticles embedded in their oil cores were fabricated and applied as nano(photo)reactors. They were then navigated in a static magnetic field gradient and transferred between the water and oil phases without disruption enabling controlled loading of a hydrophobic reactant, perylene, which was later photooxidized upon transferring the capsules to the aqueous phase. These features make them promising reusable systems for carrying lipophilic actives, conducting useful reactions in the confined environment of the capsules and magnetically guiding the encapsulated actives

Reinforced and magnetically navigated polyelectrolyte-based micro(nano)capsules as promising microreactors

2019 Fall National Meeting

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