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Redox-controlled molecular permeability of composite-wall microcapsules

Nature Materials volume 5, pages 724–729 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Many smart materials in bioengineering, nanotechnology and medicine allow the storage and release of encapsulated drugs on demand at a specific location by an external stimulus. Owing to their versatility in material selection, polyelectrolyte multilayers are very promising systems in the development of microencapsulation technologies with permeation control1,2,3,4 governed by variations in the environmental conditions5,6,7,8. Here, organometallic polyelectrolyte multilayer capsules, composed of polyanions and polycations of poly(ferrocenylsilane) (PFS), are introduced. Their preparation involved layer-by-layer self-assembly onto colloidal templates followed by core removal. PFS polyelectrolytes feature redox-active ferrocene units in the main chain. Incorporation of PFS into the capsule walls allowed us to explore the effects of a new stimulus, that is, changing the redox state9,10, on capsule wall permeability. The permeability of these capsules could be sensitively tuned via chemical oxidation, resulting in a fast capsule expansion accompanied by a drastic permeability increase in response to a very small trigger. The substantial swelling could be suppressed by the application of an additional coating bearing common redox-inert species of poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS−) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH+) on the outer wall of the capsules. Hence, we obtained a unique capsule system with redox-controlled permeability and swellability with a high application potential in materials as well as in bioscience.

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Figure 1: Schematic diagrams of the organometallic multilayer capsule formation and permeability control.
Figure 2: Characterization of PFS multilayer microcapsules.
Figure 3: Redox-responsive permeability accompanied by expansion of PFS capsules.
Figure 4: Redox-responsive permeability of multilayer capsules with organometallic–organic composite-wall structures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to E. S. Kooij (University of Twente) for his help with the ellipsometry measurements on planar multilayer films and to A. Heilig for her help with the AFM measurements in the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm. The University of Twente, the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente, the Dutch Science Foundation for Chemical Research NWO-CW and NanoImpuls, a Nanotechnology Program of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands, are acknowledged for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Technology of Polymers, MESA+ Research Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, NL-7500 AE, Enschede, PO Box 217, The Netherlands

    Yujie Ma, Mark A. Hempenius & G. Julius Vancso

  2. Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm/Potsdam, D-14476, Germany

    Wen-Fei Dong & Helmuth Möhwald

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  1. Yujie Ma
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Correspondence to G. Julius Vancso.

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Ma, Y., Dong, WF., Hempenius, M. et al. Redox-controlled molecular permeability of composite-wall microcapsules. Nature Mater 5, 724–729 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1716

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