Controllable Fabrication of Highly Uniform Sub-10 nm Nanoparticles from Spontaneous Confined Nanoemulsification

Sub-10 nm nanoparticles are known to exhibit extraordinary size-dependent properties for wide applications. Many approaches have been developed for synthesizing sub-10 nm inorganic nanoparticles, but the fabrication of sub-10 nm polymeric nanoparticles is still challenging. Here, a scalable, spontaneous confined nanoemulsification strategy that produces uniform sub-10 nm nanodroplets for template synthesis of sub-10 nm polymeric nanoparticles is proposed. This strategy introduces a high-concentration interfacial reaction to create overpopulated surfactants that are insoluble at the droplet surface. These overpopulated surfactants act as barriers, resulting in highly accumulated surfactants inside the droplet via a confined reaction. These surfactants exhibit significantly changed packing geometry, solubility, and interfacial activity to enhance the molecular-level impact on interfacial instability for creating sub-10 nm nanoemulsions via self-burst nanoemulsification. Using the nanodroplets as templates, the fabrication of uniform sub-10 nm polymeric nanoparticles, as small as 3.5 nm, made from biocompatible polymers and capable of efficient drug encapsulation is demonstrated. This work opens up brand-new opportunities to easily create sub-10 nm nanoemulsions and advanced ultrasmall functional nanoparticles.