Rational design and synthesis of multimorphology mesoporous carbon@silica nanoparticles with tailored structure

The remarkable architecture of nanoparticles with anisotropy or hierarchically multicavity mesoporous structure is critical for multifunctional application. However, it is still a great challenge to simultaneously tailor their composition, external morphology and interior structure. Herein, an emulsion-induced interfacial self-assembly strategy has been developed for the first time to fabricate mesoporous carbon@mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MC@MSs) with manipulatable morphology from hollow rambutan-like nanospheres to hollow bowl-like MC@MSs (HBMC@MSs) with different concave degree and surface roughness. Impressively, the cavity number and location of MC@MSs can be modulated, i.e., the evolution of internal structure can be transformed from hollow to multicavity and flower-like by varying the solution polarity of primary emulsion, which is a great breakthrough. A novel swelling-double penetration mechanism is proposed to shed light on the growth kinetics of multimorphology nanoparticles. Moreover, the multifunctional platforms ingeniously overcome three disadvantages: (1) the agglomeration during high-temperature annealing process; (2) low biocompatibility caused by high hydrophobicity; (3) poor affinity with hydrophobic drug molecules. Noticeably, the cellular uptake property of HBMC@MSs with red blood cell biomimetic morphology is more favorable than that of spherical nanoparticles. This strategy endows new understanding of fabricating well-defined MC@MSs and rationally designing the nanomedicine carrier for efficient delivery. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

An emulsion-induced interfacial self-assembly strategy has been developed for the fabrication of mesoporous carbon@mesoporous silica nanoparticles with manipulatable morphology. This method allows for the modulation of the cavity number and location of MC@MSs, transforming the internal structure from hollow to multicavity and flower-like, representing a significant breakthrough.