Abstract
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.
Highlights
Phase separation of a polymer solution exhibits a peculiar behavior when induced in a nanoconfinement
The production process consists of the preparation through homogenization of a primary emulsion, where the disperse phase is a ternary system, polymer/solvent/antisolvent, whereas the continuous phase is made by a solution containing a certain concentration of surfactant
Poly-L-Lactic Acid (PLLA) phase separation is induced by cooling the emulsion with water at 5 °C through a tube in tube system, which causes the rapid cooling of the emulsion at a temperature ranging from 5 to 9 °C dependence of the cooling flow rate
Summary
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 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
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