Synthesis of semicrystalline nanocapsular structures obtained by Thermally Induced Phase Separation in nanoconfinement.
Phase separation of a polymer solution exhibits a peculiar behavior when induced in a nanoconfinement. The energetic constraints introduce additional interactions between the polymer segments that reduce the number of available configurations. In our work, this effect is exploited in a one-step strategy called nanoconfined-Thermally Induced Phase Separation (nc-TIPS) to promote the crystallization of polymer chains into nanocapsular structures of controlled size and shell thickness. This is accomplished by performing a quench step of a low-concentrated PLLA-dioxane-water solution included in emulsions of mean droplet size <500 nm acting as nanodomains. The control of nanoconfinement conditions enables not only the production of nanocapsules with a minimum mean particle diameter of 70 nm but also the tunability of shell thickness and its crystallinity degree. The specific properties of the developed nanocapsular architectures have important implications on release mechanism and loading capability of hydrophilic and lipophilic payload compounds.
Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Health Care @CRIB - Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci n. 53, 80125, Napoli, Italy.|University of Naples Federico II, Interdisciplinary Research Center of Biomaterials, CRIB P.le Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy.
Enza
E
Torino
Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Health Care @CRIB - Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci n. 53, 80125, Napoli, Italy.|University of Naples Federico II, Department of Chemical, Materials and Industrial Production Engineering, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy.
Rosaria
R
Aruta
CNR - IC Istituto di Cristallografia, via Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari-Italia.
Teresa
T
Sibillano
CNR - IC Istituto di Cristallografia, via Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari-Italia.
Cinzia
C
Giannini
Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Health Care @CRIB - Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Largo Barsanti e Matteucci n. 53, 80125, Napoli, Italy.|University of Naples Federico II, Interdisciplinary Research Center of Biomaterials, CRIB P.le Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy.|University of Naples Federico II, Department of Chemical, Materials and Industrial Production Engineering, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy.
Paolo A
PA
Netti