Formation of Giant Polymer Vesicles by Simple Double Emulsification using Block Copolymers as the Sole Surfactant

The cooperative self-assembly of nanoparticles and amphiphilic block copolymers has attracted increasing interests as it offers effective routes to achieve nanocomposite supramolecular structures with desired structure and properties. The incorporation of nanoparticles usually tunes the self-assembly structure of block copolymers, as the copolymer–nanoparticle interactions may change the relative volume ratio of hydrophobic block/hydrophilic block copolymers. It should be noted that the micro-size length and the strong nonpolar feature of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may cause the block copolymer–CNT interactions to differ from the the block copolymer–nanoparticle interactions. Herein, we show that the diameter of CNTs and the copolymer/CNT ratio have a profound effect on the self-assembly behavior of amphiphilic block copolymers. Upon the addition of carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (c-MWCNTs, diameter <8 nm,) to the methoxy polyethylene glycol-poly (D,L-lactic acid) (MPEG-PDLLA) solution, it is difficult to observe the c-MWCNTs directly in TEM images. However, it has been found that they form supramolecular nanocomposite structures with MPEG-PDLLA. Moreover, these supramolecular structures transform from core–shell spherical micelles into rod-like micelles and then into large composite aggregates with the increase of the c-MWCNT addition. However, in the case of the addition of c-MWCNTs with a diameter of 30–50 nm, the dispersed c-MWCNTs and spherical core–shell micelles could be observed simultaneously in the TEM images at a low c-MWCNT addition, and then the micelle structure disappeared and only well-dispersed c-MWNTs were observed in TEM images at a high c-MWCNT addition. A possible model was proposed to explain the rule of CNTs participating in the formation of copolymer/CNT nanocomposite structures. It was also shown that as-prepared copolymer/CNT supramolecular nanocomposites could be used as drug carriers, enabling the adjustment of the drug loading and release time.

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A SERS Study of Charge Transfer Process in Au Nanorod–MBA@Cu2O Assemblies: Effect of Length to Diameter Ratio of Au Nanorods

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano11040867 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 867

Author(s):

Lin Guo ◽

Zhu Mao ◽

Sila Jin ◽

Lin Zhu ◽

Junqi Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Charge Transfer ◽

Shell Structure ◽

Shell Structures ◽

Core Shell ◽

Absorption Bands ◽

Au Nanorods ◽

The Core ◽

Band Position ◽

Surface Enhanced Raman ◽

Core Shell Structure

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful tool in charge transfer (CT) process research. By analyzing the relative intensity of the characteristic bands in the bridging molecules, one can obtain detailed information about the CT between two materials. Herein, we synthesized a series of Au nanorods (NRs) with different length-to-diameter ratios (L/Ds) and used these Au NRs to prepare a series of core–shell structures with the same Cu2O thicknesses to form Au NR–4-mercaptobenzoic acid (MBA)@Cu2O core–shell structures. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption bands were adjusted by tuning the L/Ds of Au NR cores in these assemblies. SERS spectra of the core-shell structure were obtained under 633 and 785 nm laser excitations, and on the basis of the differences in the relative band strengths of these SERS spectra detected with the as-synthesized assemblies, we calculated the CT degree of the core–shell structure. We explored whether the Cu2O conduction band and valence band position and the SPR absorption band position together affect the CT process in the core–shell structure. In this work, we found that the specific surface area of the Au NRs could influence the CT process in Au NR–MBA@Cu2O core–shell structures, which has rarely been discussed before.

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Construction of MOFs-Shell Porous Materials and Performance Study in Selective Adsorption and Separation of Benzene Pollutants

Dalton Transactions ◽

10.1039/d1dt01205c ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yu Qiao ◽

Na Lv ◽

Dong Li ◽

Hongji Li ◽

Xiangxin Xue ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Porous Materials ◽

Shell Structure ◽

Selective Adsorption ◽

Core Shell ◽

Architecture Design ◽

Performance Study ◽

The Core ◽

Core Shell Structure ◽

And Performance ◽

Sacrificial Agent

Metastable Cu2O is an attractive material for the architecture design of integrated nanomaterials. In this context, Cu2O was used as the sacrificial agent to form the core-shell structure of Cu2O@HKUST-1...

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Preparation of polyacrylamide microspheres with core–shell structure via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization

RSC Advances ◽

10.1039/c6ra22615a ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (94) ◽

pp. 91463-91467 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Peng Zhang ◽

Shixun Bai ◽

Shilan Chen ◽

Dandan Li ◽

Zhenfu Jia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization ◽

Radical Polymerization ◽

Shell Structure ◽

Core Shell ◽

Atom Transfer ◽

The Core ◽

Core Shell Structure

Well defined core–shell microspheres were prepared by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization with pre-crosslinked polyacrylamide as the core and non-crosslinked polyacrylamide as the shell.

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Access to different transient assemblies through kinetic control over the self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers using a versatile micromixer

Chemical Engineering Science ◽

10.1016/j.ces.2021.116998 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 116998

Author(s):

Zhinan Fu ◽

Yiming Wang ◽

Fen Li ◽

Xiaofeng Niu ◽

Li Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Block Copolymers ◽

Self Assembly ◽

The Self ◽

Amphiphilic Block Copolymers ◽

Kinetic Control

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Cylindrical Micelles by the Self-Assembly of Crystalline-b-Coil Polyphosphazene-b-P2VP Block Copolymers. Stabilization of Gold Nanoparticles

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules24091772 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (9) ◽

pp. 1772 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maria de los Angeles Cortes ◽

Raquel de la Campa ◽

Maria Luisa Valenzuela ◽

Carlos Díaz ◽

Gabino A. Carriedo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gold Nanoparticles ◽

Block Copolymers ◽

Self Assembly ◽

Cationic Polymerization ◽

The Self ◽

The Novel ◽

Selective Solvent ◽

The Core ◽

Cylindrical Micelles ◽

Main Factor

During the last number of years a variety of crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) processes based on semicrystalline block copolymers have been developed to prepare a number of different nanomorphologies in solution (micelles). We herein present a convenient synthetic methodology combining: (i) The anionic polymerization of 2-vinylpyridine initiated by organolithium functionalized phosphane initiators; (ii) the cationic polymerization of iminophosphoranes initiated by –PR2Cl2; and (iii) a macromolecular nucleophilic substitution step, to prepare the novel block copolymers poly(bistrifluoroethoxy phosphazene)-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PTFEP-b-P2VP), having semicrystalline PTFEP core forming blocks. The self-assembly of these materials in mixtures of THF (tetrahydrofuran) and 2-propanol (selective solvent to P2VP), lead to a variety of cylindrical micelles of different lengths depending on the amount of 2-propanol added. We demonstrated that the crystallization of the PTFEP at the core of the micelles is the main factor controlling the self-assembly processes. The presence of pyridinyl moieties at the corona of the micelles was exploited to stabilize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs).

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Core–shell stability of nanoparticles plays an important role for overcoming the intestinal mucus and epithelium barrier

Journal of Materials Chemistry B ◽

10.1039/c6tb01199c ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (35) ◽

pp. 5831-5841 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Min Liu ◽

Lei Wu ◽

Xi Zhu ◽

Wei Shan ◽

Lian Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Shell Structure ◽

Core Shell ◽

The Core ◽

Shell Stability ◽

Intestinal Mucus ◽

Core Shell Structure ◽

The Stability

The stability of the core–shell structure plays an important role in the nanoparticles ability to overcome both the mucus and epithelium absorption barrier.

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Characterization of Fe3O4@CS@NMDP magnetic nanoparticles with core–shell structure prepared by chemical cross-linking method

Functional Materials Letters ◽

10.1142/s1793604717500564 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (05) ◽

pp. 1750056 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Huiping Shao ◽

Jiangcong Qi ◽

Tao Lin ◽

Yuling Zhou ◽

Fucheng Yu

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Nanoparticles ◽

Shell Structure ◽

High Performance ◽

Cross Linking ◽

Composite Particles ◽

Core Shell ◽

The Core ◽

Targeting Delivery ◽

Core Shell Structure ◽

Chemical Cross Linking

The core–shell structure composite magnetic nanoparticles (NPs), Fe3O4@chitosan@nimodipine (Fe3O4@CS@NMDP), were successfully synthesized by a chemical cross-linking method in this paper. NMDP is widely used for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease prevention and treatment, while CS is of biocompatibility. The composite particles were characterized by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD), a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), a transmission electron microscopy (TEM), a vibrating sample magnetometers (VSM) and a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results show that the size of the core–shell structure composite particles is ranging from 12[Formula: see text]nm to 20[Formula: see text]nm and the coating thickness of NMDP is about 2[Formula: see text]nm. The saturation magnetization of core–shell composite NPs is 46.7[Formula: see text]emu/g, which indicates a good potential application for treating cancer by magnetic target delivery. The release percentage of the NMDP can reach 57.6% in a short time of 20[Formula: see text]min in the PBS, and to 100% in a time of 60[Formula: see text]min, which indicates the availability of Fe3O4@CS@NMDP composite NPs for targeting delivery treatment.

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