Pickering Emulsion-Based Marbles for Cellular Capsules.

Guangzhao Zhang,Chaoyang Wang

doi:10.3390/ma9070572

Abstract

The biodegradable cellular capsule, being prepared from simple vaporization of liquid marbles, is an ideal vehicle for the potential application of drug encapsulation and release. This paper reports the fabrication of cellular capsules via facile vaporization of Pickering emulsion marbles in an ambient atmosphere. Stable Pickering emulsion (water in oil) was prepared while utilizing dichloromethane (containing poly(l-lactic acid)) and partially hydrophobic silica particles as oil phase and stabilizing agents respectively. Then, the Pickering emulsion marbles were formed by dropping emulsion into a petri dish containing silica particles with a syringe followed by rolling. The cellular capsules were finally obtained after the complete vaporization of both oil and water phases. The technique of scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed to research the microstructure and surface morphology of the prepared capsules and the results showed the cellular structure as expected. An in vitro drug release test was implemented which showed a sustained release property of the prepared cellular capsules. In addition, the use of biodegradable poly(l-lactic acid) and the biocompatible silica particles also made the fabricated cellular capsules of great potential in the application of sustained drug release.

Highlights

It is well known that the term ‘liquid marble’ is defined to describe aqueous droplets which are enwrapped by self-organized hydrophobic powders [1,2]
(sample P0.01-0.1-2, with respect of oil phase, and from here), stratification appeared in the formed Pickering emulsion after it was placed in an ambient atmosphere for 48 h, which suggested that 0.5 w/v % of H30 silica particles was not enough for the formation of a stable Pickering emulsion
CH2Cl2 was of utilized as the phase of Pickering from ambient the prepared emulsion facilein vaporization both oil andoil water phases in ambient emulsion,The and solution

Summary

Introduction

It is well known that the term ‘liquid marble’ is defined to describe aqueous droplets which are enwrapped by self-organized hydrophobic powders [1,2]. The liquid marbles had already existed for a long time, if one considers rainwater dropping into dry dirt or the water droplets falling into large quantity of wheat flour, few people had previously paid attention to it Due to their distinctive properties—including the ability to be divided or fused together with self-recovery enwrapped layers [7], low frictional resistance derived from small a contact area with the subsurface [8] as well as relatively facile manipulation—extensive research on liquid marbles has been carried out recently. Another interesting example worthy of mention is Fujii et al.’s work [15]: They reported a smart liquid marble which could move on the surface of water under the control of near-infrared laser or Materials 2016, 9, 572; doi:10.3390/ma9070572 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion