Compositional engineering of polyelectrolyte blend capsules

Abstract

This study demonstrates the feasibility of using weak-strong polyelectrolyte (PE) blend systems for controlling the composition and thickness of core-shell particles and PE blend capsules. PE blend capsules were prepared from silica sphere templates via the stepwise adsorption of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) at pH 7.5, in alternation with a varying composition of weak-strong blended PE solutions of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) at pH 3.5, followed by removal of the silica particles. Confocal laser scanning microscopy was used to confirm that the particle coatings contain all three polymers, and the relative amount of each component was determined by using flow ..