Nanoparticle-shelled hollow structures emulsions

Interfacial Stabilization and Other Approaches to the Assembly of Nanoparticle-Shelled Hollow Structures as Emulsions and Foams... 

Inorganic nanoparticles themselves can be assembled into mesoscopic structures. Dinsmore et al. proposed an approach for the fabrication of solid capsules from colloidal particles with precise control of size, permeability, mechanical strength, and compatibility (Fig. 2.9).44 This unusual mesoscopic structure is called colloidosome and is prepared through emulsion droplets at a water-oil interface. Following the locking together of the particles to form elastic shells, the emulsion droplets were transferred to a fresh continuous-phase fluid identical to that contained inside the droplets. The resultant structures are hollow, elastic shells whose permeability and elasticity can be precisely controlled. 

Abstract Nanoparticles (NPs, diameter range of 1-100 nm) can have size-dependent physical and electronic properties that are useful in a variety of applications. Arranging them into hollow shells introduces the additional functionalities of encapsulation, storage, and controlled release that the constituent NPs do not have.This chapter examines recent developments in the synthesis routes and properties of hollow spheres formed out of NPs. Synthesis approaches reviewed here are recent developments in the electrostatics-based tandem assembly and interfacial stabilization routes to the formation of NP-shelled structures. Distinct from the well-established layer-by-layer (LBL) synthesis approach, the former route leads to NP/polymer composite hollow spheres that are potentially useful in medical therapy, catalysis, and encapsulation applications. The latter route is based on interfacial activity and stabilization by NPs with amphiphilic properties, to generate materials like colloidosomes, Pickering emulsions, and foams. The varied types of NP shells can have unique materials properties that are not found in the NP building blocks, or in polymer-based, surfactant-based, or LBL-assembled capsules. 

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