Fig. 1: Biomimetic underwater microcapsules formed by interfacial complexation of oppositely charged nanoparticles in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs).
From: Natural nanoparticle complexes at water-water interfaces
Sources of inspiration: (a) Schematic illustration of the structure of human cell membranes and their functions of selective permeability and intercellular material transport (by figdraw.com), and (b) Schematic illustration of water strider harness capillary forces by changing their bristle structure posture on the feet to climb or descend the meniscus between the surface of water and a solid object. The arrows represent the direction of motion of water strider. c Schematic illustration of a pendant droplet where the internal phase is encapsulated to form a biomimetic underwater microcapsule by self-assembled interfacial complexes. Interfacial complexes formed from entropy-driven electrostatic complexation of chitin nanofibers (ChNF) and rodlike cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) at the interface of aqueous dextran (DEX) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions. d A radar chart illustrates tunable performance of nanoparticle/nanoparticle complexes (blue) in this work, compared with the counterparts assembled from polyelectrolyte/polyelectrolyte (pink) and polyelectrolyte/nanoparticle (yellow) systems.
