Simple Engineering of Polymer-Nanoparticle Hybrid Nanocapsules

Flavien Sciortino (1) , Gérald Casterou (1, 2) , Pierre-Antoine Eliat (3) , Marie-Bérengère Troadec (4) , Cedric Gaillard (5) , Soizic Chevance (1) , Myrtil L. Kahn (2) , Fabienne Gauffre (1)

1 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes
2 LCC - Laboratoire de chimie de coordination
3 PRISM - Plate-forme Rennaise d'Imagerie et Spectroscopie Structurale et Métabolique
4 IGDR - Institut de Génétique et Développement de Rennes
5 BIA - Unité de recherche sur les Biopolymères, Interactions Assemblages

A general method to generate hybrid hollow capsules is reported. The process is based on the stabilization of solvent droplets by nanoparticles, in macroscopically miscible mixtures of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and water. After addition of a crosslinking polymer and removal of the solvent core, capsules of diameter ca 100 nm are obtained. This novel strategy does not require the use of block copolymers. In contrast, most methods reporting the formation of hybrid nanocapsules incorporate nanoparticles into block-copolymer polymersomes or use nanoparticles tethered with block-copolymers. The nanocapsules were characterized using a full set of techniques including nanoparticle tracking analysis, electron microscopy and liquid phase atomic force microscopy. Our results show that the vesicular shape of the nanocapsules is templated by the liquid droplets. Nanocapsules were prepared from quantum dots, gold nanoparticles, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and mixtures of particles. The entrapment of a fluorescent dye was also demonstrated. Thus, nanocapsules with dual properties (e.g., magnetic and fluorescent) are easily obtained. Interestingly, the magnetic nanocapsules enable magnetic resonance imaging contrast enhancement of tumors in vivo.

Mots clés: copolymers; agents; vesicles; solvents; iron-oxide nanoparticles; supramolecular structures; mixtures; stabilization; nanobubbles; water

Domaines: Matériaux

Flavien Sciortino, Gérald Casterou, Pierre-Antoine Eliat, Marie-Bérengère Troadec, Cedric Gaillard, et al.. Simple Engineering of Polymer-Nanoparticle Hybrid Nanocapsules. ChemNanoMat, 2016, 2 (8), pp.796-799. ⟨10.1002/cnma.201600155⟩. ⟨hal-01395464⟩