Small 2015-03-18

Hybrid organic-inorganic colloidal composite 'sponges' via internal crosslinking.

Bradley Duncan, Ryan F Landis, Huda A Jerri, Valery Normand, Daniel Benczédi, Lahoussine Ouali, Vincent M Rotello

Index: Small 11(11) , 1302-9, (2015)

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Abstract

An effective method for the generation of hybrid organic-inorganic nanocomposite microparticles featuring controlled size and high structural stability is presented. In this process, an oil-in-water Pickering emulsion is formed using hydrophilic amine-functionalized silica nanoparticles. Covalent modification using a hydrophobic maleic anhydride copolymer then alters nanoparticle wettability during crosslinking, causing a core-shell to nanocomposite structural reorganization of the assemblies. The resulting porous nanocomposites maintain discrete microparticle structures and retain payloads in their oil phase even when incubated in competitive solvents such as ethanol. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.