Perforated Microcapsules with Selective Permeability Created by Confined Phase Separation of Polymer Blends

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• 作者：Bomi Kim ; Tae Yong Lee ; Alireza Abbaspourrad ; Shin-Hyun Kim
• 刊名：Chemistry of Materials
• 出版年：2014
• 出版时间：December 23, 2014
• 年：2014
• 卷：26
• 期：24
• 页码：7166-7171
• 全文大小：391K
• ISSN：1520-5002

文摘

Semipermeable microcapsules have a great potential in controlled release of drugs, protection of catalysts, and immunoisolation of cells. However, a method to create such microcapsules with precisely controlled cutoff value and high mechanical stability remains an important challenge. Herein we report microfluidic approach to create microcapsules with size-selective permeability using phase separation of polymer blends in ultrathin middle layer of double-emulsion drops. The blend strongly confined in two-dimensional space exhibit local phase separation, instead of global separation. This enables the perforation of microcapsule membrane by selectively removing one of the phase-separated polymeric domains. The resultant monolithic membrane has uniform pores which connect the interior and the exterior of the microcapsules, thereby providing size-selective permeability. The pore size can be precisely tuned by regulating the extent of phase separation; this enables the control of cutoff value for permeation.