Triggering Release of Encapsulated Cargo

摘要

The encapsulation of materials within polymer carriers is important for developments in drug delivery, biosensing, catalysis, and microreactors. Polymer carriers can be synthesized using a variety of techniques, including self-assembly (e.g., polymer micelles and polymersomes) and templat-ed assembly (e.g., layer-by-layer (LbL) capsules, polymerized emulsion droplets, and nanoimprint lithography particles). Of equal importance to developing effective encapsulation techniques is the ability to control the release of the encapsulated contents. Triggering the release of such encapsulants can be achieved through a number of different mechanisms, which can be broadly separated into two types: one where an external stimulus is applied, and the other, where a change in the local (e.g., chemical) environment induces a change in the carrier permeability and thus release of the encapsulated cargo. Engineering mechanisms into the carriers to control cargo release is an area of active research and has recently led to a number of important advances in the area.