Abstract
A facile approach for the preparation of crosslinked polymeric nanocapsules was developed by the combination of the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization and ultraviolet irradiation crosslinking techniques. The well-defined polystyrene grafted silica nanoparticles were prepared via the SI-ATRP of styrene from functionalized silica nanoparticles. Then the grafted polystyrene chains were crosslinked with ultraviolet irradiation. The cross-linked polystyrene nanocapsules with diameter of 20–50 nm were achieved after the etching of the silica nanoparticle templates with hydrofluoric acid. The strategy developed was confirmed with Fourier transform infrared, thermogravimetric analysis, and transmission electron microscopy.
Highlights
In recent years, significant progress has been made in the design and fabrication of polymeric micro- and nanocapsules, which have attracted great attention because of a variety of applications such as delivery vesicles for drugs, dyes, or inks; micro-containers for artificial cells andA large number of physical and chemical strategies have been developed for the preparation of polymeric microand nanocapsules
Compared with the other methods such as micelle formation [6, 7], interfacial polymerization [8, 9], and emulsion polymerization [10, 11], the template methods via layer-by-layer technique [12,13,14] or surface polymerization technique showed the most efficiency in the precise controlling of the inner diameters of the micro- and nanocapsules
After Mandal et al [15] reported the preparation of the poly(benzyl methacrylate) (PBzMA) microcapsules via the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) of benzyl methacrylate on silica microparticles, the surface-initiated controlled/ ‘‘living’’ radical polymerization (C/LRP) technique has attracted more and more attention due to the control over the thicknesses of the shell of the polymeric micro- and nanocapsules [20,21,22,23]
Summary
Significant progress has been made in the design and fabrication of polymeric micro- and nanocapsules, which have attracted great attention because of a variety of applications such as delivery vesicles for drugs, dyes, or inks; micro-containers for artificial cells andA large number of physical and chemical strategies have been developed for the preparation of polymeric microand nanocapsules. Keywords Crosslinked polymeric nanocapsules Á Template Á Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization Á Ultraviolet irradiation We develop a strategy for the preparation of the crosslinked polymeric nanocapsules based on the widely used sacrificial silica nanoparticle templates via the combination of the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) technique and ultraviolet irradiated crosslinking techniques (Scheme 1).
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