Hollow Colloidosomes Prepared Using Accelerated Solvent
Evaporation
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Abstract
We
demonstrate a new, scalable, simple, and generally applicable
two-step method to prepare hollow colloidosomes. First, a high volume
fraction oil-in-water emulsion was prepared. The oil phase consisted
of CH<sub>2</sub>Cl<sub>2</sub> containing a hydrophobic structural
polymer, such as polycaprolactone (PCL) or polystyrene (PS), which
was fed into the water phase. The water phase contained poly(vinylalcohol),
poly(<i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide), or a range of cationic
graft copolymer surfactants. The emulsion was rotary evaporated to
rapidly remove CH<sub>2</sub>Cl<sub>2</sub>. This caused precipitation
of PCL or PS particles which became kinetically trapped at the periphery
of the droplets and formed the shell of the hollow colloidosomes.
Interestingly, the PCL colloidosomes were birefringent. The colloidosome
yield increased and the polydispersity decreased when the preparation
scale was increased. One example colloidosome system consisted of
hollow PCL colloidosomes stabilized by PVA. This system should have
potential biomaterial applications due to the known biocompatibility
of PCL and PVA
