Facile synthesis of Colloidosomes with tunable hydrophilicity as carriers of hydrophilic active ingredients for aqueous medium-oriented applications

Abstract

Colloidosomes have garnered significant interest as carriers for the controlled delivery of active ingredients across diverse applications. Nevertheless, effectively encapsulating hydrophilic actives within colloidosomes while maintaining their stability in aqueous medium without leakage remains a significant challenge. This arises from the high permeability of colloidosomes and the hydrophilicity mismatch between the carriers and the aqueous medium. Herein, we report a facile approach to the synthesis of colloidosomes with excellent sealing performance and tunable hydrophilicity. Our approach is based on the silica-stabilized Pickering emulsion templating, interfacial sol-gel reaction of TEOS and subsequent APTES grafting for surface hydrophilic modification. The size of colloidosomes agrees with the Pickering emulsion droplet and can be adjusted by changing the amount of silica. Notably, unlike other reported colloidosomes, the hydrophilicity of the synthesized colloidosomes can be controlled through the addition amount of APTES and their transfer into an aqueous medium can be readily achieved without any other steps. The colloidosomes demonstrated efficient encapsulation of hydrophilic active ingredients and feature a robust shell, enabling the high retention of enzyme activity (lipase) in practical liquid detergent applications. In contrast with unencapsulated lipase, colloidosome-encapsulated lipase demonstrated superior cleaning efficacy. This colloidosomes proposed in this study offers distinct advantages for the encapsulation and protection of hydrophilic active ingredients and shows great potential in detergents industry.