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The Enhanced Encapsulation Capacity of Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane‐based Copolymers for the Fabrication of Electrospun Core/Shell Fibers
Author(s) -
Bauer Adam J. P.,
Zeng Tingying,
Liu Jianzhao,
Uthaisar Chananate,
Li Bingbing
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201400032
Subject(s) - silsesquioxane , materials science , electrospinning , copolymer , fabrication , emulsion , methyl methacrylate , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , composite material , polymer , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
This paper reports the use of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)‐based copolymers to stabilize the core/shell interface for the facile fabrication of electrospun core/shell fibers. For the poly[(propylmethacryl‐heptaisobutyl‐polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane)‐ co ‐(methyl methacrylate)] (POSS‐MMA)/poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) system, the bicontinuity of hybrid core/shell fibers can be tuned by controlling the phase separation of POSS‐MMA/PCL in electrospinning solutions and therefore the size of PCL‐in‐POSS‐MMA emulsion droplets. Our results demonstrate the enhanced encapsulation capacity of POSS‐MMA copolymers as shell materials. Taking advantage of the rapid advancement of POSS‐based copolymer synthesis, this study can potentially be generalized to guide the fabrication of various other POSS‐based core/shell nano‐/microstructures by using single‐nozzle electrospinning or coaxial electrospinning.