Plasmonic Colloidosomes: Photothermally Activated Core-Shell Particles for Stimulated Release of Biomolecules

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive capsules have shown great promise for catalysis and the delivery of therapeutic agents, but have not yet been thoroughly investigated in tissue engineering,bacterial quorum sensing, energy applications, and general combinatorial gradient creation. Here, stimuli-responsive capsules are created through emulsion methodology and functionalized using gold nanorods as the photothermal stimulus, which can be loaded with diverse biological payloads and triggered by activation with lasers to release their payload on command. In this work, the organic shell material, the functionalization of the gold nanorods, and the rupture procedures were optimized experimentally. Ultimately, the biodegradable polymer poly(D,L lactic-coglycolic acid) (PLGA) was chosen as the best material candidate to form this external shell, and the gold nanorods were functionalized through layer-by-layer (LbL)coating of polyelectrolytes and subsequently attached electrostatically to the PLGA droplets. Model systems of the PLGA droplets engineered through LbL spin-coating and 3D-printing were successfully ruptured with a laser, illustrating proof-of-concept for this new technology. This novel, stimuli-responsive system holds great potential for unlocking broad, new scientific possibilities which harness the selective power of stimulated, localized release in a biocompatible package.