Stimulus-Responsive Polyelectrolyte Particles: From Nanospheres to Macroscopic Beads

Abstract

Stimulus-responsive polyelectrolyte particles are used in a wide array of scientific and technological applications, such as foods, personal care products, pharmaceutics, and separation processes. Depending on their method of preparation, they range from tens of nanometers to millimeters in size, assume a variety of morphologies, and respond to a range of external stimuli. Despite their broad utility, however, literature describing their preparation and properties remains fragmented. To this end, this article presents a broad and unifying review on their formation and properties. Specifically, it surveys the molecular mechanisms by which polyelectrolytes associate and methods by which their assemblies are shaped into particulate matter. It also discusses how particle properties can be tuned by varying their preparation methods and the molecular properties of their constituents, and review some of their applications.

Keywords:

• Beads
• microspheres
• nanoparticles
• particles
• polyelectrolyte

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to M. E. Helgeson for providing the FESEM image in Figure 4.