Solid Lipid Nanoparticle - Functional Template of Meso-Macrostructured Silica Materials

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) are biocolloidal dispersions able to be loaded with hydrophilic or hydrophobic ingredients, either of low molecular weight drugs or high molecular weight proteins. Their interest is not limited to colloidal science but can be extended to material design, for templating inorganic materials or to afford functional hybrid organic-inorganic materials. Indeed, dispersions of SLN can be used to prepare meso-macroporous materials through a dual templating mechanism combining self-assembling of micelles and imprinting of soft nanoparticles. Moreover, by loading SLN with curcumin, one can obtain responsive carriers, which are of interest in nanomedecine. Finally, supported biocatalysts were obtained by mineralizing green double dispersions W/SLN/W containing a lipase into the aqueous core.