Complex Polymeric Microstructures with Programmable Architecture via Pickering Emulsion-Templated In Situ...

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Tailoring complex polymeric microstructures is crucial for microfluidics and nanotechnology.
• Current fabrication techniques for controlled microcapsule morphology are limited.
• Controlled morphology is essential for functional performance and diverse applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple, inexpensive, versatile, and high-throughput method for fabricating microcapsules with controlled morphology.
• To report a novel approach for tailoring complex polymeric microstructures.
• To enable discoveries in polymer colloids.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Pickering emulsion-templated in situ polymerization.
• Employed hydrophobized titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) with tunable wettability.
• Used hexadecane (HD) as a soft template for the core.

Main Results:

• Successfully fabricated microcapsules with diameters ranging from 5 to 20 μm.
• Achieved diverse microstructures including smooth, raspberry-like, hollow, and filled morphologies.
• Demonstrated control over particle properties like morphology, size, shell thickness, and core content by manipulating reaction parameters.

Conclusions:

• Proposed novel mechanisms for the formation of various microstructures based on experimental results.
• The developed method offers a versatile platform for creating complex polymeric microstructures.
• This advancement addresses the bottleneck in fabricating microcapsules with controlled morphology.