Colloidal microcapsules: Surface engineering of nanoparticles for interfacial assembly.

摘要

Colloidal Microcapsules (MCs), i.e. capsules stabilized by nano-/microparticle shells are highly modular inherently multi-scale constructs with applications in many areas of material and biological sciences e.g. drug delivery, encapsulation and microreactors. These MCs are fabricated by stabilizing emulsions via self-assembly of colloidal micro/nanoparticles at liquid-liquid interface. In these systems, colloidal particles serve as modular building blocks, allowing incorporation of the particle properties into the functional capabilities of the MCs. As an example, nanoparticles (NPs) can serve as appropriate antennae to induce response by external triggers (e.g. magnetic fields or laser) for controlled release of encapsulated materials. Additionally, the dynamic nature of the colloidal assembly at liquid-liquid interfaces result defects free organized nanostructures with unique electronic, magnetic and optical properties which can be tuned by their dimension and cooperative interactions. The physical properties of colloidal microcapsules such as permeability, mechanical strength, and biocompatibility can be precisely controlled through the proper choice of colloids and preparation conditions for their.;This thesis illustrates the fabrication of stable and robust MCs through via chemical crosslinking of the surface engineered NPs at oil-water interface. The chemical crosslinking assists NPs to form a stable 2-D network structure at the emulsion interface, imparting robustness to the emulsions. In brief, we developed the strategies for altering the nature of chemical interaction between NPs at the emulsion interface and investigated their role during the self-assembly process. Recently, we have fabricated stable colloidal microcapsule (MCs) using covalent, dative as well as non-covalent interactions and demonstrated their potential applications including encapsulation, size selective release, functional devices and biocatalysts.