Confinement-Dependent Diffusiophoretic Transport of Nanoparticles in Collagen Hydrogels

The transport of nanoparticles in biological hydrogels is often hindered by the strong confinement of the media, thus limiting important applications such as drug delivery and disinfection. Here, we investigate nanoparticle transport in collagen hydrogels driven by diffusiophoresis. Contrary to common expectations for boundary confinement effects where the confinement hinders diffusiophoresis, we observe a nonmonotonic behavior in which maximum diffusiophoretic mobility is observed at intermediate confinement. We find that such behavior is a consequence of the interplay between multiple size-dependent effects. Our results display the utility of diffusiophoresis for enhanced nanoparticle transport in physiologically relevant conditions under tight confinement, suggesting a potential strategy for drug delivery in compressed tissues.