I-Wei Chu1, Kai Su2, and Nan-Loh Yang1. (1) CUNY-College of Staten Island, Staten Island, NY, (2) Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Tarrytown, NY
Conducting polymers as novel vesicles for controlled release have attracted attentions due to their unique property of substantial volume changes with the variation of doping level. Hollow conducting polymer nanostructures have promises for loading contents of interest, although relatively poor mechanical properties and limited solubility of conducting polymers lead to significant challenges in the fabrication of such structures. We report here a novel soft-template, ionic liquid micelles, used for the first time synthesis of conducting polymer nano-hollow-spheres for controlled releases. The concentration of 3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) monomer plays a significant role in controlling the morphology of intact hollow PEDOT nanospheres. The nascent sizes of the nano-hollow sphere were controlled by the composition ratio of ionic liquid to surfactant (IL-to-surfactant, R) ratio. The controlled release of uncharged as well as anionic species was demonstrated through delivery from the surface with pH as tuning factor.