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Preparation and Properties of Narrowly Dispersed Polyurethane Nanocapsules Containing Essential Oil via Phase
Guangwen Cui1, Jianping Wang1, Xuechen Wang1
1Tianjin Key Laboratory of Advanced Fibers and Energy Storage, School of Materials Science and Engineering , Tianjin Polytechnic University , Tianjin 300387 , P. R. China.
Abstract:
Narrowly dispersed polyurethane (PU) nanocapsules containing lavender essential oil (LO) were fabricated by polyaddition of toluene diisocyanate (TDI) trimer with polyol using a phase inversion emulsification technique. The particle size distribution (PSD), surface morphology, structure, encapsulation parameters, release properties, and thermal stability of nanocapsules have been characterized using a laser particle size analyzer (LPSA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectrum (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that the nanocapsules have a smaller size (ca. 268 nm), regular sphericity, uniform particle size (polydispersity index, PDI = 0.078), clear core-shell structure, and smooth surface. When the ratio of LO to TDI trimer is 5:10, the yield, encapsulation efficiency, and loading capacity of the nanocapsules can reach a maximum of 70.7%, 98.6%, and 64.8%, respectively. Furthermore, the release experiments showed that the cumulative release of LO from nanocapsules was only about 17% at room temperature and about 32% at 50 °C even after 20 days.
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