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Ionic liquids can serve as an environmentally-friendly replacement for solvents in emulsions, therefore they are considered suitable to be used as an emulsified medium for various active materials one of which are extractors of metal ions. Increasing the extraction efficiency is considered to be one of the key objectives when working with such extraction systems. One way to improve the extraction efficiency is to increase the contact area between the extractant and the working ionic solution. This can be accomplished by creating a nano-emulsion of ionic liquid containing such an extractant. Since emulsification of ionic liquid is not always possible in the sample itself, there is a necessity of creating a stable emulsion that can be added externally and on demand to samples from which metal ions need to be extracted. We propose a method of fabrication of a highly-stable extractant-loaded ionic liquid-in-water nano-emulsion via a low-energy phase reversal emulsification followed by continuous layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte deposition process to encapsulate the nano-emulsion and enhance the emulsion stability. Such a multilayered stabilized nano-emulsion was tested for extraction of Cd(2+) and Ca(2+) ions in order to determine its extraction efficiency and selectivity. It was found to be effective in the extraction of Cd(2+) ions with near 100% cadmium removal, as well as being selective since no Ca(2+) ions were extracted. The encapsulated emulsion was removed from samples post-extraction using two methods - filtration and magnetic separation, both of which were shown to be viable under different circumstances - larger and mechanically stronger capsules could be removed by filtration, however magnetic separation worked better for both smaller and bigger capsules. The long-term stability of nano-emulsion was also tested being a very important characteristic for its proposed use: it was found to be highly stable after four months of storage time.

Cotton functionalisation with poly-"-caprolactone (PCL) micro- and nano-capsules containing menthol was carried out with the aim of introducing a long-lasting refreshing sensation.Materials and methods: The preparation of the polymer micro- and nano-capsules was carried out by solvent displacement technique. A confined impinging jets mixer was used in order to ensure fast mixing and generate a homogeneous environment where PCL and menthol can self-assemble.Results: The micro- and nano-capsules and the functionalised fabrics were characterised by means of DSC, FT-IR spectroscopy and SEM imaging. Micro- and nano-capsules of different size, from about 200 to about 1200nm, were obtained varying menthol to PCL ratio (from 0.76 to 8), overall concentration and flow rate (i.e. mixing conditions). The inclusion of menthol was confirmed by DSC analysis. Discussion and conclusion: A patch test was carried out by 10 volunteers. Micro-capsules were found to be effective in conferring the fabric a refreshing sensation without altering skin physiology. less

The layer-by-layer approach is a highly versatile method for the fabrication of multilayered polymeric films and capsules. It has been widely investigated in research for various polyelectrolyte pairs and core template particles. However, the fabrication of nano-sized capsules at the larger scale is difficult and time consuming, due to the necessity of washing and centrifugation steps before the deposition of each polyelectrolyte layer. This results not only in a very long fabrication time, but also in the partial loss of particles during those intermediate steps. In this study, we introduced a continuous approach for the fabrication of multilayer polyelectrolyte based nano-capsules using calcium phosphate core nanoparticles and a tubular flow type reactor with the potential for synthesizing tens of milligrams of capsules per hour. Adsorption of the polyelectrolyte layer occurred in the tubing where particles and polyelectrolyte solution of choice were mixed, creating a layer of polyelectrolyte on the particles. After this, these newly surfaced-modified particles passed into the next segment of tubing, where they were mixed with a second polyelectrolyte of opposite charge. This process can be continuously repeated until the desired number of layers is achieved. One potential problem with this method concerned the presence of any excess polyelectrolyte in the tubing, so careful control of the amount of polymer added was crucial. It was found that slightly under dosing the amount of added polyelectrolyte ensured that negligible unadsorbed polyelectrolyte remained in solution. The particles created at each deposition step were stable, as they all had a zeta potential of greater than ±25 mV. Furthermore the zeta potential measurements showed that charge reversal occurred at each stage. Having achieved the necessary number of polyelectrolyte layers, the calcium phosphate cores were easily removed via dissolution in either hydrochloric or acetic acid.

In the present work, carotenoids were isolated (1.2%) from crude palm oil and encapsulated with isabgol fiber (Psyllium husk). The efficiency of encapsulation was 82.23±1.42%. The morphology of the capsules showed rough surface texture with minimal pores. The amorphous natures of the nano-capsules was obvious from X-ray diffraction patterns. DSC studies showed high thermal stability of the nano-capsules between 20–120 °C. In vitro release studies revealed that controlled release from the nano-capsules could be achieved using isabgol fiber as encapsulant. However it was observed that the nano-capsules followed a non-Fickian diffusion pattern. Good DPPH-radical scavenging and metal-chelation activities were observed for encapsulated carotenoids. Shelf-life studies showed that the nano-capsules gradually degraded at 97% relative humidity, as the moisture-induced rancidity was evidently not extensive.En el presente trabajo los carotenos fueron aislados (1,2%) a partir de aceite de palma crudo y encapsulados con fibra de isabgol (cáscara de psyllium). La eficiencia de encapsulación fue 82,23±1,42 %. La morfología de las cápsulas mostró una textura áspera de la superficie con mínimos poros. La naturaleza amorfa de las nanocápsulas fue evidenciada a partir de patrones de difracción de rayos X. Los estudios de DSC mostraron una alta estabilidad térmica de las nanocápsulas entre 20–120 °C. En los estudios de liberación in vitro se vió que la liberación controlada de las nanocápsulas se podría lograr mediante fibra isabgol como encapsulante. Sin embargo se observó que las nanocápsulas siguieron un patrón de difusión no- Fickian. Se observaron buenas actividades DPPH captadoras de radicales y actividades de quelación de metal para carotenoides encapsulados. Los estudios sobre la vida útil mostraron que las nanocápsulas se degradan gradualmente con una humedad relativa del 97%, y aunque la humedad indujo el enranciamiento, este hecho no se puede generalizar.