Design and Construction of Hybrid Microcapsules with Higher-Order Structure and Multiple Functions

Abstract

The construction of inorganic-protein hybrid microcapsules by using bovine serum albumin, metal ion clusters, and poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) nanoconjugates as building blocks is presented. These microcapsules have robust membranes, which can keep their spherical morphology. They support interfacial catalytic activity by the ion clusters on their surface, and can be used as a platform to immobilize enzyme on the interface of oil/water to increase the diversity and efficiency of catalysis. These microcapsules also act as a container to make materials away from bacteria when existing silver clusters on the membrane. The obtained results highlight the construction of these microcompartments. These novel microcompartments can provide some new opportunities in bottom-up synthetic biology, bioinspired microstorage/ microreactor, and drug/gene delivery in the future.