Preparation of magnetic poly(vinyl alcohol) microspheres via inverse miniemulsion technique

• Published in: Materials letters 2012-07, Vol.79, p.222-224
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jianan, Deng, Huijuan, Wu, Bo, Lin, Jizhi, Wu, Mingyuan, Wu, Qingyun, Yang, Jianjun, He, Benge
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alcohols; biocompatibility; Biodegradability; coprecipitation; Cross-linking reactions; Crosslinking; Droplets; Drug delivery systems; drugs; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; glutaraldehyde; Inverse; Inverse miniemulsion process; light scattering; Microspheres; Nanoparticles; nanospheres; Nanostructure; Polymers; polyvinyl alcohol; Polyvinyl alcohols; PVA microspheres; transmission electron microscopy; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2012.04.035

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) micro- and nanospheres provide new options for drug delivery due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability and their tunable drug loading and release properties. PVA nanodroplets were fabricated by inverse miniemulsion process and then PVA microspheres were obtained by using glutaraldehyde (GA) as a cross-linking agent. Magnetic nanoparticles were in situ formed on the surfaces of PVA microspheres based on the classical coprecipitation procedure to fabricate magnetic PVA microspheres. The microspheres were characterized by FTIR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), light scattering equipment, and vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM), respectively. The experimental results clearly show that PVA droplets were solidified after the cross-linking reactions to form PVA microspheres. The magnetic PVA microspheres are about 80–200nm with magnetic particle of about 18nm on the surfaces. The biocompatible and biodegradable nature of PVA indicates that this system seems to be a very promising vehicle for hydrophilic drug delivery. PVA nanodroplets are obtained by inverse miniemulsion process and then solidified using glutaraldehyde (GA) as a cross-linking agent. Magnetic nanoparticles are in situ synthesized on the surfaces of PVA microspheres based on the classical coprecipitation procedure to fabricate magnetic PVA microspheres. [Display omitted] ► PVA nanodroplets are prepared via inverse miniemulsion process. ► PVA microspheres are obtained using glutaraldehyde as a cross-linking agent. ► Magnetic nanoparticles are in situ formed to fabricate magnetic PVA microspheres.