A systematic synthetic study of polyelectrolyte nanocapsules via crystallized miniemulsion nanodroplets

Synthesis of polyelectrolyte nanocapsules (NCs) by interfacial crosslinking of surfactant monolayers adsorbed on crystallized miniemulsion nanodroplets is systematically studied by using surfactants with varied lengths of hydrophobic n-alkyl tails. The results indicate that the n-alkyl tails of surfactants need to possess at least sixteen carbon atoms, in order to obtain stable surfactant monolayers for achieving well-defined NCs. The structural control of NCs via crystallized miniemulsion systems is discussed.