Efficient Synthesis of Stable Polyelectrolyte Complex Nanoparticles by Electrostatic Assembly Directed Polymerization. Issue 4 (28th December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ding, Peng; Chen, Lusha; Wei, Cheng; Zhou, Wenjuan; Li, Chendan; Wang, Jiahua; Wang, Mingwei; Guo, Xuhong; Cohen Stuart, Martien A.; Wang, Junyou
• Is Part Of: Macromolecular rapid communications. Volume 42:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2020-12-28
• Subjects: coacervate nanoparticles -- electrostatic assembly -- one‐pot synthesis -- polyelectrolytes; Macromolecules -- Periodicals; Polymers -- Periodicals; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 547.705
• DOI: 10.1002/marc.202000635
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1022-1336

Abstract

Abstract: Polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles with integrated advances of coacervate complexes and nanomaterials have attracted considerable attention as soft templates and functional nano‐carriers. Herein, a facile and robust strategy, namely electrostatic assembly directed polymerization (EADP), for efficient and scalable preparation of stable coacervate nanoparticles is presented. With homo‐polyelectrolyte PAA (polyacrylic acid) as template and out of charge stoichiometry, the cationic monomers are polymerized together with cross‐linkers, which creates coacervate nanoparticles featuring high stability against salt through one‐pot synthesis. The particle size can be tuned by varying the cross‐linker amount and salt concentrations during the polymerization and the composition of nanoparticles, as well as the corresponding properties can be regulated by combining different charged blocks from both strong and weak ionic monomers. The strategy can tolerate both high monomer concentrations and increased volume of up to l L, which is favorable for scaled‐up preparations. Moreover, the coacervate nanoparticles can be freeze‐dried to produce a product in powder form, which can be redispersed without any effect on the particle size and size distribution. Finally, the obtained nanoparticles loaded with enzyme and Au nanoparticles exhibit enhanced catalytic performance, demonstrating a great potential for exploring various applications of coacervate particles as soft and functional nano‐carriers. Abstract : The authors present a facile and robust strategy, namely electrostatic assembly directed polymerization (EADP), for efficient and scalable preparation of stable coacervate nanoparticles through one‐pot synthesis. The obtained nanoparticles loaded with enzyme and Au nanoparticles exhibit enhanced catalytic performance, demonstrating a great potential for exploring a variety of applications of coacervate particles as soft and functional nano‐carriers.