A new route to the formation of nanoporous capsules using block copolymer thin films and colloids

Polymerie micellar multilayers are deposited onto spherical colloidal particles of weakly cross-linked melamine formaldehyde (MF), via the so-called layer-bylayer approach (LbL). The MF particles were coated sequentially with layers of oppositely charged diblock copolymer micelles formed from either PDMA₉₆-PDEA₂₆ or PDEA₅₀-PMAA₅₀ [PDMA: poly(2-dimethylamino)ethylmethacrylate, PDEA: poly(diethylamino) ethylmethacrylate, PMAA: poly(methacrylic acid)]. To provide additional stability, the outermost layer can then be cross-linked using BIEE; the effects of this were investigated here. To form capsules, the core MF is removed by dissolution. In a variation to this approach, alternative coatings can also be produced by replacing one or more layers with polymer coated Au nanoparticles, which can provide us with a range of different properties of what is a hollow particle. This paper focuses solely on the polymer encapsulated MF and its core dissolution and results on the incorporated with Au coatings are to be presented elsewhere.