4.8 Article

Cucurbit-Like Polymersomes with Aggregation-Induced Emission Properties Show Enzyme-Mediated Motility

Journal

ACS NANO
Volume 15, Issue 11, Pages 18270-18278

Publisher

AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c07343

Keywords

polymersomes; nanomotors; aggregation-induced emission; morphology engineering; LBL assembly

Funding

  1. ERC [694120]
  2. Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science [024.001.035]
  3. NWO-NSFC Advanced Materials [792.001.015]
  4. European Union [663830, 676137]
  5. Ser Cymru II program

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Polymer nanomotors with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) moieties can adopt asymmetric morphologies and exhibit enzyme-powered motility, making them promising for active delivery systems in biomedical applications.
Polymersomes that incorporate aggregation-induced emission (AIE) moieties are attractive inherently fluorescent nanoparticles with biomedical application potential for cell/tissue imaging and tracking, as well as phototherapeutics. An intriguing feature that has not been explored yet is their ability to adopt a range of asymmetric morphologies. Structural asymmetry allows nanoparticles to be exploited as active (motile) systems. Here, we present the design and preparation of AIE fluorophore integrated (AIEgenic) cucurbit-shaped polymersome nanomotors with enzyme-powered motility. The cucurbit scaffold was constructed via morphology engineering of biodegradable fluorescent AIE-polymersomes, followed by functionalization with enzymatic machinery via a layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly process. Because of the enzyme-mediated decomposition of chemical fuel on the cucurbit-like nanomotor surface, enhanced directed motion was attained, when compared with the spherical counterparts. These cucurbit-shaped biodegradable AIE-nanomotors provide a promising platform for the development of active delivery systems with potential for biomedical applications.

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