Files and links (1)
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Highly robust crystalsome via directed polymer crystallization at curved liquid/liquid interface
Nature communications, v 7(1), pp 10599-10599
01 Feb 2016
PMID: 26837260
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Lipids and amphiphilic block copolymers spontaneously self-assemble in water to form a plethora of micelles and vesicles. They are typically fluidic in nature and often mechanically weak for applications such as drug delivery and gene therapeutics. Mechanical properties of polymeric materials could be improved by forming crystalline structures. However, most of the self-assembled micelles and vesicles have curved surfaces and precisely tuning crystallization within a nanoscale curved space is challenging, as the curved geometry is incommensurate with crystals having three-dimensional translational symmetry. Herein, we report using a miniemulsion crystallization method to grow nanosized, polymer single-crystal-like capsules. We coin the name crystalsome to describe this unique structure, because they are formed by polymer lamellar crystals and their structure mimics liposomes and polymersomes. Using poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) as the model polymer, we show that curved water/p-xylene interface formed by the miniemulsion process can guide the growth of PLLA single crystals. Crystalsomes with the size ranging from similar to 148 nm to over 1 mu m have been formed. Atomic force microscopy measurement demonstrate a two to three orders of magnitude increase in bending modulus compared with conventional polymersomes. We envisage that this novel structure could shed light on investigating spherical crystallography and drug delivery.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Highly robust crystalsome via directed polymer crystallization at curved liquid/liquid interface
- Creators
- Wenda Wang - Drexel UniversityHao Qi - Drexel UniversityTian Zhou - Drexel UniversityShan Mei - Drexel UniversityLin Han - Drexel Univ, Sch Biomed Engn Sci & Hlth Syst, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USATakeshi Higuchi - Tohoku UniversityHiroshi Jinnai - Tohoku UniversityChristopher Y. Li - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Nature communications, v 7(1), pp 10599-10599
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 6
- Grant note
- DMR-1308958 / Nationals Science Foundation 1308958 / Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien; National Science Foundation (NSF); NSF - Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems; Materials Science and Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000371019700017
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84957546984
- Other Identifier
- 991019168251904721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Polymer Science