Unraveling the Single-Nanometer Thickness of Shells of Vesicle-Templated Polymer Nanocapsules
Unraveling the Single-Nanometer Thickness of Shells of Vesicle-Templated Polymer Nanocapsules
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解开囊泡模板聚合物纳米胶囊壳的单纳米厚度
DOI：
10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b01149
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发表时间：
2017
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Pinkhassik, Eugene
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Richter, Andrew G.;Dergunov, Sergey A.;Kim, Mariya D.;Shmakov, Sergey N.;Pingali, Sai Venkatesh;Urban, Volker S.;Liu, Yun;Pinkhassik, Eugene
囊泡模板纳米胶囊已成为一个可行的平台，用于各种应用。壳厚度是纳米胶囊的关键结构参数，其中壳在提供机械稳定性和控制渗透性方面起着至关重要的作用。在这里，我们使用小角中子散射（SANS）来确定独立的和表面稳定的纳米胶囊的厚度。尽管处于可检测性的边缘，但我们能够显示聚合物壳的厚度通常为1.0 ± 0.1 nm，这使得囊泡模板纳米胶囊成为有史以来最薄的材料。壳的极薄性对几个领域有影响：通过纳米孔的质量传输相对不受阻碍;成孔分子不限于跨越整个双层的分子;胶囊的内部体积最大化;并且已经获得了关于聚合如何在双层支架的受限几何形状中发生的见解，主要位于表面活性剂小叶之间的单体和交联剂的相分离层上。
Vesicle-templated nanocapsules have emerged as a viable platform for diverse applications. Shell thickness is a critical structural parameter of nanocapsules, where the shell plays a crucial role providing mechanical stability and control of permeability. Here we used small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) to determine the thickness of freestanding and surfactant-stabilized nanocapsules. Despite being at the edge of detectability, we were able to show the polymer shell thickness to be typically 1.0 ± 0.1 nm, which places vesicle-templated nanocapsules among the thinnest materials ever created. The extreme thinness of the shells has implications for several areas: mass-transport through nanopores is relatively unimpeded; pore-forming molecules are not limited to those spanning the entire bilayer; the internal volume of the capsules is maximized; and insight has been gained on how polymerization occurs in the confined geometry of a bilayer scaffold, being predominantly located at the phase-separated layer of monomers and cross-linkers between the surfactant leaflets.