The design of wrinkled microcapsules for enhancement of release rate.
Thermally expandable microcapsules (TEMs) with wrinkled shells are prepared by one-step suspension polymerization, allowing for encapsulation and controlled release of cargos. Wrinkling results from concurrent crosslinking of shell copolymers and vaporization of volatile reagents along with density increase upon polymerization. Through control of the vapor pressure of the reagents and systematic variation of the suspension composition, microcapsules with different degrees of wrinkling are prepared, ranging from locally dimpled to highly crumpled morphologies. The corresponding increase of the surface-to-volume ratio results in increasing release rate of encapsulated oil red dye as a model cargo. As such, in addition to shell thickness and radius, the wrinkleness provides an effective control parameter for adjusting the release rate. The wrinkled microcapsules with a large surface-to-volume ratio may find applications in drug delivery, chemicals scavenging, and self-healing materials.
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA.
Maria
M
Ina
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA.
Aleksandr P
AP
Zhushma
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA.
Natalia V
NV
Lebedeva
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA.
Mohammad
M
Vatankhah-Varnoosfaderani
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA.
Sean D
SD
Olson
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA. Electronic address: sergei@email.unc.edu.
Sergei S
SS
Sheiko
D002214:Capsules / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D065546:Drug Liberation; D010316:Particle Size; D058105:Polymerization; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
D002214:Capsules; D011108:Polymers
Controlled wrinkleness; Release rate control; Surface-to-volume ratio; Wrinkled microcapsule