E. Van Keuren, S. Taylor, Y. Chung, L. Chen, U. Ugwu-Uche, V.A. Aparicio, R. Meehan, E. Hughes
Georgetown University,
United States
Keywords: nanocapsules, drug delivery, flash nanoprecipitation
Summary:
The synthesis and application of multicomponent and/or multifunctional nanoparticles is an area that has seen significant growth over the past decade. Nanocapsules, nanoparticles with a liquid core and hard shell, are one example. They have found use in numerous applications, for example, nanodrug formulations, nanoreactors, paints and inks, etc. Here we show that one method for creating nanoparticles, flash nanoprecipitation, can be used to create a variety of nanocapsules. Flash nanoprecipitation is a simple, scalable method that consists of rapidly mixing a solution with a miscible non-solvent, which induces aggregation/self-assembly of the solute into nanoparticles. We will present results on the synthesis of a number of different nanocapsules, in particular those developed for medical diagnostics and therapeutics.