Silica vesicle-type

As an intermediate between solid supported layers and the inherent dynamic and nanostructured properties of phospholipid vesicle supports, silica and especially mesoporous silica nanoparticles may provide interesting platforms for dynamic bilayers. Previous studies have shown that stable bilayers can form on both amorphous [102] or functional silica [103, 104] and mesoporous nanoparticles [105] or membranes [106]. This type of biomimetic carrier has great potential as a type of trackable stabilized membrane capable of displaying cellular targeting elements in a close to natural configuration. 

Membrane and microfiuidic devices have also been adopted for the precision manufacture of solids from double-emulsion templates. To date, several different types of particles have been successfully produced by incorporating use of various membrane and microfiuidic devices in processes of polymerization, gel formation, crystallization, and molecular or particle self-assembly. Membrane emulsification is more suited to the fabrication of less sophisticated particulates, such as solid lipid micro-Znanoparticles, gel microbeads, coherent polymeric microspheres, and inorganic particles such as silica microparticles. Microfiuidic devices allow more sophisticated particle designs to be created, such as colloidosomes, polymerosomes, 3D colloidal assemblies, asymmetric vesicles, core-shell polymer particles, and bichromal particles. 

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