title: Tunable core-shell particles generated from smart water-soluble chitosan seeds.
abstract: A chain-like route was presented to create various core-shell particles with soft, aqueous or inorganic cores respectively. Water-soluble chitosan (WSC) gel particles were obtained through gelating the aqueous WSC solution of 0.02 g/mL at its isoelectric point. Then, polyelectrolyte complexes were formed and surrounded on the outer surfaces of WSC gel particles by immersing the particles in 2 wt% aqueous sodium alginate. Soft WSC cores in these core-shell particles disappeared after maintaining the particles in 1M HCl for 6h. The cores of obtained particles at this step became aqueous, and could be further transformed into inorganic ones via contacting the particles with copper sulfate and sodium sulfide aqueous solutions successively. The composition of the shell was verified with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The formation of various core-shell particles was confirmed with digital photographic observation, thermogravimetric and fluorescence analyses. The whole process was a chain-like one and was able to stop at any stage to harvest a corresponding target.
authors.affiliation: College of Material Science and Engineering of Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China. Electronic address: congmingxiao@hqu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Congming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: College of Material Science and Engineering of Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China.
authors.forename: Rongrui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: College of Material Science and Engineering of Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China.
authors.forename: Yanrui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: College of Material Science and Engineering of Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China.
authors.forename: Zhongxin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D019327:Copper Sulfate / Q000737:chemistry; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry*; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D010316:Particle Size; D012995:Solubility; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013440:Sulfides / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D005782:Gels; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D013440:Sulfides; D014867:Water; D020723:Glucuronic Acid; D048271:Chitosan; D019327:Copper Sulfate; C033479:sodium sulfide
keywords: Chain-like process; Core–shell architecture; Intelligent core; Tunable formation; Water-soluble chitosan