@article{Mao2021, 
author = {Xi Mao and Hao Li and Jinwoo Kim and Shuai Deng and Renhua Deng and Bumjoon J. Kim and Jintao Zhu},
title = {Polymersome formation by solvent annealing-induced structural reengineering under 3D soft confinement},
year = {2021},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {14},
number = {12},
pages = {4644-4649},
keywords = {self-assembly, polymersome, block copolymer, three-dimensional (3D) confinement, solvent annealing},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s12274-021-3396-x},
doi = {10.1007/s12274-021-3396-x},
abstract = {A solvent annealing-induced structural reengineering approach is exploited to fabricate polymersomes from block copolymers that are hard to form vesicles through the traditional solution self-assembly route. More specifically, polystyrene-b-poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) particles with sphere-within-sphere structure (SS particles) are prepared by three-dimensional (3D) soft-confined assembly through emulsion-solvent evaporation, followed by 3D soft-confined solvent annealing upon the SS particles in aqueous dispersions for structural engineering. A water-miscible solvent (e.g., THF) is employed for annealing, which results in dramatic transitions of the assemblies, e.g., from SS particles to polymersomes. This approach works for PS-b-P4VP in a wide range of block ratios. Moreover, this method enables effective encapsulation/loading of cargoes such as fluorescent dyes and metal nanoparticles, which offers a new route to prepare polymersomes that could be applied for cargo release, diagnostic imaging, and nanoreactor, etc.}
}