Phenolic film engineering for template-mediated microcapsule preparation

Abstract

Microcapsules are of scientific and technological interest because of their ability to encapsulate cargo inside their hollow interiors, thereby separating and protecting the cargo from the external environment. Both template-free and-mediated strategies have been exploited to prepare microcapsules. For the latter strategy, coating sacrificial particulate templates with robust films is a key step towards obtaining mechanically-stable hollow architectures following template removal. In this review, we focus on phenolic-based film engineering techniques utilizing dopamine (DA) and tannic acid (TA), which have recently emerged as new platforms for template-mediated capsule preparation. The first part of the review describes the self-polymerization of DA, which preferentially occurs at interfaces. The second part of the review describes TA capsules. Particular emphasis is placed on the coordination-triggered rapid deposition of TA on different substrates. These examples highlight the versatility and simplicity of phenolic film engineering strategies for microcapsule preparation. Phenolics are abundant bio-based materials, and thus form an attractive field of research for the future development of microcapsules. © 2014 The Society of Polymer Science, Japan (SPSJ). All rights reserved.