Journal
NANO RESEARCH
Volume 14, Issue 12, Pages 4644-4649Publisher
TSINGHUA UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-021-3396-x
Keywords
polymersome; block copolymer; three-dimensional (3D) confinement; self-assembly; solvent annealing
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [52003094]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2020kfyXJJS011]
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A solvent annealing-induced structural reengineering approach transforms polystyrene-b-poly(4-vinyl pyridine) into polymersomes, allowing for effective encapsulation/loading of cargoes such as fluorescent dyes and metal nanoparticles for various applications.
A solvent annealing-induced structural reengineering approach is exploited to fabricate polymersomes from block copolymers that are hard to form vesicles through the traditional solution self-assembly route. More specifically, polystyrene-b-poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) particles with sphere-within-sphere structure (SS particles) are prepared by three-dimensional (3D) soft-confined assembly through emulsion-solvent evaporation, followed by 3D soft-confined solvent annealing upon the SS particles in aqueous dispersions for structural engineering. A water-miscible solvent (e.g., THF) is employed for annealing, which results in dramatic transitions of the assemblies, e.g., from SS particles to polymersomes. This approach works for PS-b-P4VP in a wide range of block ratios. Moreover, this method enables effective encapsulation/loading of cargoes such as fluorescent dyes and metal nanoparticles, which offers a new route to prepare polymersomes that could be applied for cargo release, diagnostic imaging, and nanoreactor, etc.
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