Study of hollow colloidosomes using polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as polymer via two steps solvent evaporation method

Colloidosomes is a hollow and composed of a closely-dense packed layer of colloidal particles whose permeability and elasticity can be tuned and highly controllable. Hollow colloidosomes offer a great potential in wide areas such as controlling the release rate of entrapped materials, cosmetics, food supplements and living cell, as protection of biologically active species and removal of pollutants. PHB hollow colloidosomes has attracted interest in research owing to their biocompatibility for the design of implantable drug delivery system and tissue engineering. Previous study established the two steps solvent evaporation method. Similar optimum conditions of 1.5 wt.% PCL/1.2 wt.% PVA were applied to prepare PHB/PVA hollow colloidosomes and the results showed PHB has the potential to be prepared as colloidosomes. However, the particle size is small and low in yield. By varying the concentrations and molecular weight of surfactant used, the optical images showed small particles with higher yield and larger particles with higher yield respectively. Morphology study shows that PHB colloidosomes are more porous compared to PCL hollow colloidosomes.