Fabrication of a Stable Polyelectrolyte/Au Nanoparticles Multilayer Film

The fabrication of stable polyelectrolyte/Au nanoparticle multilayer films was achieved by the UV irradiation of layer‐by‐layer self‐assembled multilayers consisting of diazoresins and Au nanoparticles. The method promises to be a simple and efficient strategy to construct covalently attached organic/inorganic multilayer hybrids.     

Switching the Stiffness of Polyelectrolyte Assembly by Light to Control Behavior of Supported Cells

Polyelectrolyte block copolymer micelles assembled thin film is switched in response to local photocatalytic reactions on titanium dioxide, resulting in a layer of variable height, stiffness in response to visible light irradiation. Preosteoblasts migrate toward stiffer side of the substrates.

     

Melanin‐Containing Films: Growth from Dopamine Solutions versus Layer‐by‐Layer Deposition

Films formed by oxidation of dopamine are of interest for functionalisation of solid–liquid interfaces owing to their versatility. However, the ability to modulate the properties of such films, for example, permeability to ionic species and the absorption coefficient, is urgently needed. Indeed, melanin films produced by oxidation of dopamine absorb strongly over the whole UV/Vis part of the electromagnetic spectrum and are impermeable to anions even for a film thickness as low as a few nanometers. Herein we combine oxidation of dopamine to produce a solution containing dopamine–melanin particles and their alternating deposition with poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) to produce films which have nearly the same morphology as pure dopamine–melanin films but are less compact, more transparent and more permeable to ferrocyanide anions.     

Tunable Interfacial Properties in Silk Ionomer Microcapsules with Tailored Multilayer Interactions

Microencapsulation techniques represent a critical step in realizing highly controlled transport of functional materials in multiphase systems. The first demonstration of microcapsules prepared from minimally grafted silk ionomers (silk fibroin modified with cationic/anionic charge groups) are presented here. These tailored biomacromolecules have shown significantly increased biocompatibility over traditional polyelectrolytes and heavily grafted silk ionomers, but the low grafting density had previously limited attempts to fabricate stable microcapsules. In addition, the first microcapsules from polyethylene‐glycol‐grafted silk ionomers are fabricated and the corresponding impact on microcapsule behavior is demonstrated. The materials are shown to exhibit pH‐responsive properties, with the microcapsules demonstrating an approx. tenfold decrease in stiffness and an approx. threefold change in diffusion coefficient when moving from acidic to basic buffer. Finally, the effect of assembly conditions of the microcapsules are shown to play a large role in determining final properties, with microcapsules prepared in acidic buffers showing lower roughness, stiffness, and an inversion in transport behavior (i.e., permeability decreases at higher pH).     

Thin‐layer chromatography combined with surface‐enhanced Raman scattering for rapid detection of benzidine and 4‐aminobiphenyl in migration from food contact materials based on gold nanoparticle doped metal‐organic framework

In this work, a rapid and sensitive thin‐layer chromatography combined with surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy method was established for rapid detection of benzidine and 4‐aminobiphenyl in migration from food contact materials based on Au nanoparticle doped metal‐organic framework. Benzidine and 4‐aminobiphenyl were firstly separated by thin‐layer chromatography to solve the limitation of their overlapping Raman peaks. Then the target molecules were monitored by adding AuNPs/MIL‐101(Cr) on the sample spots. Under the optimum conditions, the concentration of benzidine and 4‐aminobiphenyl can be quantitatively measured in the range of 2.0‐20.0 and1.0‐15.0 μg/L, respectively with good linear relationship, and the limits of detection were 0.21 and 0.23 μg/L, respectively. Furthermore, the developed method was applied to analyze benzidine and 4‐aminobiphenyl in migration of different food contact materials. The recoveries of benzidine and 4‐aminobiphenyl for migration of food contact materials, including paper cups, polypropylene food containers, and polyethylene glycol terephthalate bottles, were 80.6‐116.0 and 80.7‐118% with relative standard deviations of 1.1‐9.1 and 3.1‐9.9%, respectively. Surface‐enhanced Raman scattering detection was performed conveniently in the on‐plate mode without additional elution process. The method shows great potential in rapid monitoring of hazardous substances with overlapping characteristic Raman peaks in food contact materials.     

Versatile Stamps in Microcontact Printing: Transferring Inks by Molecular Recognition and from Ink Reservoirs

Microcontact printing is a heavily used surface modification method in materials and life science applications. This concept article focuses on the development of versatile stamps for microcontact printing that can be used to bind and release inks through molecular recognition or through an ink reservoir, the latter being used for the transfer of heavy inks, such as biomolecules and particles. Conceptually, such stamp properties can be introduced at the stamp surface or by changing the bulk stamp material; both lines of research will be reviewed here. Examples include supramolecular stamps with affinity properties, polymer‐layer‐grafted PDMS stamps, and porous multilayer‐grafted PDMS stamps for the first case, and hydrogel stamps and porous stamps made by phase‐separation micromolding for the second. Potential directions for future advancement of this field are also discussed.     

Influence of Side‐Chain Composition on Polythiophene Properties and Supramolecular Assembly of Anionic Polythiophene Derivatives

A series of 10 polythiophene derivatives is reported, in which each polymer has a different percentage of carboxylic acid‐bearing repeat units. The properties of these polymers are explored under acidic conditions, where the carboxylic acid moieties remain neutral, and under basic conditions, where the carboxylic acid units become anionic carboxylates. The properties that are examined for both solutions and films include UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and red‐edge optical band gaps. All the properties studied are strongly dependent both on protonation state and percentage of carboxylic acid/carboxylate side chains along the polymer backbone. The anionic form of each polythiophene derivative was also used in layer‐by‐layer film deposition with a cationic phosphonium polyelectrolyte. The film growth process was studied by spectroscopic techniques to assess the influence of side‐chain composition on the film growth and optical properties. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019     

Synthesis of a nanocomposite containing a water‐soluble polythiophene derivative and gold nanoparticles

This paper reports on a facile method for synthesizing gold nanoparticles (AuNps) with diameter around 5 nm encapsulated with water‐soluble polythiophene sulfonate poly[2‐(3‐thienyl)ethyloxy‐4‐butylsulfonate] sodium salt (PTS) and their physical–chemical characterization. The synthesis of hybrid materials of polythiophene derivatives and gold nanoparticles is a way to improve the polymer properties, mainly in application for chemical and optical sensing platforms. The AuNps were prepared by reducing gold salt with acid aqueous sodium citrate by the Turkvich method in the presence of PTS, and both PTS and citrate helped to stabilize the AuNps. The suspensions of AuNp:PTS presented good chemical and photostability for long period of storage. The nanoparticles encapsulated with the polymer presented smaller diameters than those obtained using only sodium citrate, according to scanning electron microscopy images. The AuNps obtained were used for fabrication LbL films with commercial chitosan, which were characterized by impedance spectroscopy measurements. The results showed that the charge transfer resistance values (R_ct) decrease as the average diameter of the AuNps decreases and the proportion of PTS increases in the nanocomposite. Such increase of the nanocomposite conductivity, given by the low values of R_ct, indicates that the novel film architecture developed is promising for chemical sensing applications. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 1245–1254     

Electropolymerization of layer‐by‐layer precursor polymer films

The layer‐by‐layer (LbL) self‐assembly has been used to fabricate polymer thin films on any solid substrates. The multilayer polymer thin films are constructed by alternating adsorption of anionic and cationic polymers. Polyelectrolyte multilayer ultrathin films containing anionic poly[2‐(thiophen‐3‐yl)ethyl methacrylate‐co‐methacrylic acid]; P(TEM‐co‐MA) and cationic poly[4‐(9H‐carbazol‐9‐yl)‐N‐butyl‐4‐vinyl pyridium bromide]; P4VPCBZ, were fabricated. The growth of multilayer ultrathin films was followed by UV–Vis absorption spectrophotometer and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (SPR). The deposition of P(TEM‐co‐MA)/P4VPCBZ as multilayer self‐assembled ultrathin films regularly grow which showed linear growth of absorbance and thickness with increasing the number of layer pair. Cross‐linking of the layers was verified by cyclic voltammetry (CV), UV–Vis spectrophotometry and electrochemical surface plasmon resonance (EC‐SPR) spectroscopy with good electro‐copolymerizability. This was verified by spectroelectrochemistry. The SPR angular‐reflectivity measurement resulted in shifts to a higher reflectivity according to the change in the dielectric constant of the electropolymerized film. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectroscopic Interrogation of Layer-by-layer Assembled Films of Conjugated Polyelectrolytes

Layer-by-layer fluorescent conjugated polyelectrolyte films have been studied. The photoluminescence of conjugate polyelectrolytes was observed to be highly tunable during this film assembly process. Efficient photoinduced electron transfer from thus prepared highly luminescent film to a natural electron-transfer protein cytochrome c has also been observed.     

Construction of albumin multilayer coating onto plasma treated poly(vinyl chloride) via electrostatic self‐assembly

Multilayer films consisting of polyethylenimine (PEI) and albumin were successffully prepared on plasma treated poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) via electrostatic self‐assembly of the PEI and albumin. The layer‐by‐layer assembly of the PEI/albumin on plasma treated PVC was monitored by contact angle and ¹²⁵I radiolabeled method. The stability of the mutilayer coating was determined by ¹²⁵I radiolabeled method. The results revealed that less than 10% albumin was eluted by a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution in 45 days. The static platelet adhesion indicated that the PEI/albumin deposited PVC could resist the platelet adhesion effectively. Such an easy processing and shape‐independent method may have good potential for surface modification of cardiovascular device. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Single Polyelectrolyte Microcapsules Fabricated By Glutaraldehyde‐Mediated Covalent Layer‐By‐Layer Assembly

Summary: Single polyelectrolyte component microcapsules and multilayers, exemplified by poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH), have been prepared using a method of glutaraldehyde (GA)‐mediated covalent layer‐by‐layer (LbL) assembly. The GA cross‐linking of the adsorbed PAH results in surfaces covered by reactive aldehyde groups, which can then react with PAH to result in another layer of covalently linked PAH. The repeated assembly of single polyelectrolyte in an LbL manner can be thus achieved. The PAH multilayers can grow linearly along with the layer number, and their thickness can be controlled at the nanometer scale, as verified by UV‐vis absorption spectrometry and ellipsometry. Single polyelectrolyte microcapsules are obtained after removal of the template cores at low pH. The morphology and integrity are confirmed by scanning force microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Schematic illustration of the preparation of a single polyelectrolyte component microcapsule by GA‐mediated covalent LbL assembly.     

Microfluidics as A Tool to Understand the Build‐Up Mechanism of Exponential‐Like Growing Films

Microfluidics is used here for the first time to efficiently tune the growth conditions for understanding the build‐up mechanism of exponentially growing polyelectrolyte (PE) films. The velocity of PE supply and time of interaction can be successfully altered during the layer‐by‐layer assembly. Another advantage of this method is that the deposition of poly‐L ‐lysine/hyaluronic acid (PLL/HA) films in microchannels can be monitored online by fluorescence microscopy. The study demonstrates that PE mass transport to the film surface and diffusion in the film are key parameters affecting PLL/HA film build‐up. Increase of PE supply rate results in a change in the “transition” (exponential‐to‐linear growth) towards higher number of deposition steps, thus indicating a mass transport‐mediated growth mechanism.     

Micelles‐Encapsulated Microcapsules for Sequential Loading of Hydrophobic and Water‐Soluble Drugs

Layer‐by‐layer (LbL) assembly was conducted on CaCO₃ microparticles pre‐doped with polystyrene‐block‐poly(acrylic acid) (PS‐b‐PAA) micelles, and resulted in micelles encapsulation in the microcapsules after core removal. Distribution of the micelles in the templates and capsules was characterized by transmission electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The micelles inside the capsules connected with each other to form a chain and network‐like structure with a higher density near the capsule walls. The hydrophobic PS cores were then able to load small uncharged hydrophobic drugs while the negatively charged PAA corona could induce spontaneous deposition of water‐soluble positively charged drugs such as doxorubicin.

     

Layer‐by‐Layer Assembled Nanotubes as Biomimetic Nanoreactors for Calcium Carbonate Deposition

Enzyme‐loaded magnetic polyelectrolyte multilayer nanotubes prepared by layer‐by‐layer assembly combined with the porous template could be used as biomimetic nanoreactors. It is demonstrated that calcium carbonate can be biomimetically synthesized inside the cavities of the polyelectrolyte nanotubes by the catalysis of urease, and the size of the calcium carbonate precipitates was controlled by the cavity dimensions. The metastable structure of the calcium carbonate precipitates inside the nanotubes was protected by the outer shell of the polyelectrolyte multilayers. These features may allow polyelectrolyte nanotubes to be applied in the fields of nanomaterials synthesis, controlled release, and drug delivery.

     

Spin Self‐Assembled Clay Nanocomposite Passivation Layers Made from a Photocrosslinkable Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Na+‐Montmorillonite Enhance the Environmental Stability of Organic Thin‐Film Transistors

We investigated the effects of the multilayer polymer‐clay nanohybrid passivation films on the stability of pentacene organic thin‐film transistors (OTFTs) exposed to air and UV irradiation. Well‐ordered multilayer films were deposited by the spin‐assisted layer‐by‐layer assembly method using photocrosslinkable poly(vinyl alcohol) with the N‐methyl‐4(4′‐formylstyryl)pyridinium methosulfate acetal group (SbQ‐PVA) and Na⁺‐montmorillonite in a water‐based solution process. When photocrosslinked, these SbQ‐PVA/clay multilayers were found to serve as excellent barriers to O₂ and UV‐light. Moreover, when used as passivation layers, they enhanced the stability of pentacene OTFT devices exposed to air and UV radiation.