Frank Caruso
ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, and the Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
The development of rapid and versatile coating strategies for interface and particle engineering is of immense scientific interest [1]. This presentation will focus on our studies on the rapid formation of thin films constituted of metal–phenolic networks (MPNs), a unique class of metal–organic materials. MPNs can be formed on various substrates by simply mixing natural polyphenols and metal ions [2,3]. This coating technique is substrate independent (covering organic, inorganic and biological substrates) and has been used for the assembly of capsules by coating particles and then removing the coated templates. It will be shown that a range of polyphenols and a library of metal ions are suitable for forming MPNs for film and capsule engineering. The MPN films and capsules are stable at physiological pH but degrade at acidic pH, thus making them of interest for intracellular release of therapeutics. By altering the metal ion, different functions can be incorporated in the MPN materials, ranging from fluorescence to MRI and catalytic capabilities. Furthermore, synthetic polymer–phenol conjugates have been used as building materials to control the biofouling properties of the MPN materials. Examples of self-healing MPN gel materials will also be highlighted. The ease and scalability of the assembly process, combined with the tunable properties of MPNs, provide a new avenue for functional interface engineering and make MPNs potential candidates for biomedical, environmental, and advanced materials applications.
- J. J. Richardson, M. Björnmalm, F. Caruso, Science 2015, 348, aaa2491.
- H. Ejima, J. J. Richardson, K. Liang, J. P. Best, M. P. van Koeverden, G. K. Such, J. Cui, F. Caruso, One-Step Assembly of Coordination Complexes for Versatile Film and Particle Engineering, Science 2013, 341, 154.
- [3] J. Guo, B. L. Tardy, A. J. Christofferson, Y. Dai, J. J. Richardson, W. Zhu, M. Hu, Y. Ju, J. Cui, R. R. Dagastine, I. Yarovsky, F. Caruso, Modular Assembly of Superstructures from Polyphenol-Functionalized Building Blocks, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2016, 11, 1105.
