Single-Pot Encapsulation of Oxide Particles within a Polysaccharide Multilayer Nanocoating

Porous coatings on oxide surfaces are invaluable in emerging applications involving biomaterials, drug delivery, sensing, and colloidal suspensions such as paints and coatings. The synthesis of such coatings has conventionally required complex multiple-step syntheses and petroleum-derived polymers. In this manuscript, the single-step synthesis of uniform nanocoatings on oxide particles is demonstrated using a one-pot approach and glucans derived from cellulose, which enables the synthetic tunability of polymer coatings by leveraging on established sugar chemistry. The resulting ≈10 nm thick uniform coatings are synthesized by imbibing a crosslinking agent, such as SiCl₄, into the pores of the oxide particle, which localizes polymer crosslinking to the immediate proximity of the inorganic-oxide surface. The resulting nanocoatings encapsulate the particles and render the inorganic-oxide surface inaccessible to polyanions though accessible to small molecules. The surface chemistry is tuned for enhanced dispersion stability in water by covalently introducing of carboxylates to the coating.