Logo image
Back
Polyethylene nano crystalsomes formed at a curved liquid/liquid interface
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Polyethylene nano crystalsomes formed at a curved liquid/liquid interface

Wenda Wang, Mark C. Staub, Tian Zhou, Derrick M. Smith, Hao Qi, Eric D. Laird, Shan Cheng and Christopher Y. Li
Nanoscale, v 10(1), pp 268-276
07 Jan 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c7nr08106e
PMID: 29210419
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Chemistry Chemistry, Multidisciplinary Materials Science Materials Science, Multidisciplinary Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Physical Sciences Physics Physics, Applied Science & Technology Science & Technology - Other Topics Technology
Crystallization is incommensurate with nanoscale curved space due to the lack of three dimensional translational symmetry of the latter. Herein, we report the formation of single-crystal-like, nanosized polyethylene (PE) capsules using a miniemulsion solution crystallization method. The miniemulsion was formed at elevated temperatures using PE organic solution as the oil phase and sodium dodecyl sulfate as the surfactant. Subsequently, cooling the system stepwisely for controlled crystallization led to the formation of hollow, nanosized PE crystalline capsules, which are named as crystalsomes since they mimic the classical self-assembled structures such as liposome, polymersome and colloidosome. We show that the formation of the nanosized PE crystalsomes is driven by controlled crystallization at the curved liquid/liquid interface of the miniemulson droplet. The morphology, structure and mechanical properties of the PE crystalsomes were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and atomic force spectroscopy. Electron diffraction showed the single-crystal-like nature of the crystalsomes. The incommensurateness between the nanocurved interface and the crystalline packing led to reduced crystallinity and crystallite size of the PE crystalsome, as observed from the X-ray diffraction measurements. Moreover, directly quenching the emulsion below the spinodal line led to the formation of hierarchical porous PE crystalsomes due to the coupling of the PE crystallization and liquid/liquid phase separation. We anticipate that this unique crystalsome represents a new type of nanostructure that might be used as nanodrug carriers and ultrasound contrast agents.

Metrics

10 Record Views
28 citations in Web of Science
28 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#12 Responsible Consumption & Production

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Web of Science research areas
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Physics, Applied
Logo image