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New controlled release systems produced by self-assembly of biopolymers and colloidal particles at fluid-fluid interfaces
Phase-separated biopolymer solutions, and aqueous dispersions of hydrogel beads, liposomes, polymersomes, aqueous polymer microcapsules, and colloidosomes are all examples of water-in-water emulsions. These systems can be used for encapsulation and controlled release purposes, in for example food or pharmaceutical applications. The stress-deformation behavior of the droplets in these systems is very complex, and affected by mass transfer across the interface. The relaxation time of a deformation of a droplet may depend on interfacial properties such as surface tension, bending rigidity, spontaneous curvature, permeability, and interfacial viscoelasticity. It also depends on bulk viscoelasticity and composition. A non-equilibrium thermodynamic model is developed for the dynamic behavior of these systems, which incorporates all these parameters, and is based on the interfacial transport phenomena (ITP) formalism. The ITP formalism allows us to describe all water-in-water emulsions with one general theory. Phase-separated biopolymer solutions, and dispersions of hydrogel beads, liposomes, polymersomes, polymer microcapsules, and colloidosomes are basically limiting cases of this general theory with respect to bulk and interfacial theological behavior. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. [hide]
Scientific Board
Andreas Bausch
TU Munich, Germany ►
Peter Fischer
ETH Zurich, Switzerland ►
Anne-Marie Hermansson
SIK, Sweden ►
Martin Kroger
ETH Zurich, Germany/Switzerland ►
Erik van der Linden
Wageningen UR, The Netherlands ►
Niklas Loren
SIK, Sweden ►
Leonard Sagis
Wageningen UR, The Netherlands ►
Erich Windhab
ETH Zurich, Switzerland ►
Klaas-Jan Zuidam
Unilever, The Netherlands ►
Scientific Stuff
Manuela Duxenneuner
ETH Zurich, Switzerland ►
Sophia Fransson
SIK, Sweden ►
Nam-Phuong Humblet-Hua
Wageningen UR, The Netherlands ►
Joeska Husny
ETH Zurich, Australia/Switzerland ►
Orit Peleg
ETH Zurich, Israel/Switzerland ►
Cyrille Vezy
TU Munich, Germany ►
Varvara Mitropoulos
ETH Zurich, Switzerland ►
Associated Scientists
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Enjoy your reading
SY Tee, AR Bausch, PA Janmey,
The mechanical cell
CURRENT BIOLOGY 19 (2009) R745 ►Selected conferences (co-)organized by project members
8th World Congress on Computational Mechanics WCCM8 2008
30 June - 5 July 2007, Venice, Italy ►13 May 2025
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