Abstract View
Controllable Synthesis of Charged Lignin Nanoparticles as Nanocarriers by Electrospray
HAO ZHOU, Sujit Modi, Pratim Biswas, Washington University in St Louis
Abstract Number: 220
Working Group: Nanoparticles and Materials Synthesis
Abstract
In the field of agriculture spraying and drug delivery, nanocarriers is a critical aspect because it can increase the bioavailability and control the release kinetics of effective chemicals. To obtain efficient targeting, better bioavailability, and reduced side effects, several factors remain to be optimized such as particle size, morphology and charge. However, until now, little work has been done for fabricating charged nanocarriers. Considering the great advantages of charged nanocarriers such as improving the deposition rate and tuning the retention time, in this study, the generation of charged carriers with controllable size, and morphology is conducted by using the electrospray system. Lignin is chosen as the carrier materials due to its low price, environmental friendliness, good biocompatibility, and high stability.
Firstly, we control the size and charge distribution of as-prepared nanoparticles by tuning the operation parameters and precursor properties. The particle charge is measured by using tandem scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). The particle size is measured by SMPS and TEM. The most important parameters are the liquid flow rate, the initial concentration and the electrical conductivities. Then the influences of the evaporation rate and the coulombic fission events on the particle morphology are studied. Different morphologies including spherical solid, elliptical solid and spherical hollow are synthesized by using the electrospray. Finally, the experimentally measured results are correlated to the theoretically models developed in our previous work. This study suggests a novel strategy for fabricating charged lignin nanocarriers for the drug delivery and agriculture spraying.