Double-emulsion drops with ultra-thin shells for capsule templates
Double-emulsion drops with ultra-thin shells for capsule templates
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DOI：
10.1039/c1lc20434c
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发表时间：
2011-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
6.1
通讯作者：
Weitz, David A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kim, Shin-Hyun;Kim, Jin Woong;Weitz, David A.
我们介绍了一种乳化技术，创建单分散双乳液滴与核壳几何形状具有超薄壁作为中间层。我们通过形成鞘流在微流体毛细管装置中产生两相流，所述鞘流由对毛细管壁具有高亲和力的流体薄层组成，所述流体薄层沿着毛细管的内壁流动，围绕最内部的流体。这产生了双乳液滴，使用单步乳化，具有非常薄的流体壳。如果壳被固化，其厚度可以小到100纳米甚至更小。尽管壳的厚度很小，但这些结构仍然非常稳定，使它们具有很大的封装潜力。我们通过创建具有几十纳米的壳厚度的聚乳酸的可生物降解的微胶囊来证明这一点，这对于药物、化妆品和营养物质的封装和递送是潜在有用的。
We introduce an emulsification technique that creates monodisperse double-emulsion drops with a core-shell geometry having an ultra-thin wall as a middle layer. We create a biphasic flow in a microfluidic capillary device by forming a sheath flow consisting of a thin layer of a fluid with high affinity to the capillary wall flowing along the inner wall of the capillary, surrounding the innermost fluid. This creates double-emulsion drops, using a single-step emulsification, having a very thin fluid shell. If the shell is solidified, its thickness can be small as a hundred nanometres or even less. Despite the small thickness of this shell, these structures are nevertheless very stable, giving them great potential for encapsulation. We demonstrate this by creating biodegradable microcapsules of poly(lactic acid) with a shell thickness of a few tens of nanometres, which are potentially useful for encapsulation and delivery of drugs, cosmetics, and nutrients.