emulsion-based synthesis of reversibly swellable, magnetic.pdfVIP

3308 Chem. Mater. 2006, 18, Emulsion-Based Synthesis of Reversibly Swellable, Magnetic Nanoparticle-Embedded Polymer Microcapsules Hye Young Koo,† Suk Tai Chang,‡ Won San Choi,† Jeong-Ho Park,† Dong-Yu Kim,*,† and Orlin D. Velev*,‡ Center for Frontier Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 500712, South Korea, and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State Uni ersity, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7905 Recei ed April 10, 2006 A one-step, template-free synthetic method for preparing polymeric microcapsules with iron oxide (-Fe O ) magnetic nanoparticles (MPs) embedded in the polymer shell is reported. Using a simple 2 3 emulsification of the multiphase mixture containing liquid prepolymer and MPs in chloroform solution, double emulsions comprising a chloroform core and MPs/polymer shell were spontaneously formed. After exposure to UV light, these double emulsions converted to microcapsules with a polymerized composite shell. The evolution from the double emulsions to the microcapsules was examined by confocal laser scanning microscopy. One unusual feature of these microcapsules is the ability to change shape reversibly by osmotic swelling of the water core upon repetitive drying and hydration. The microcapsules had an intrinsic superparamagnetic response due to the presence of the magnetic nanoparticles and could