Researchers on the College of Birmingham developed a novel method for quickly and scalably creating homogeneous nanostructures straight from block polymers. The research was revealed in Nature Synthesis.
The revolutionary technique from the Dove and O’Reilly teams allows the high-throughput synthesis of exact polymer nanoparticles, lowering processing time from per week to only a few minutes.
The method combines seed preparation with dwelling crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA), facilitating constant seed micelle manufacturing. This strategy surpasses present artificial strategies by orders of magnitude, permitting for the creation of nanostructures in roughly three minutes.
This system allows the scalable synthesis of various and sophisticated polymer nanoparticles, with potential functions in vitality switch, biomedical engineering, and catalysis. It offers a scalable, correct, and environment friendly technique for nanoparticle creation.
The strategy’s effectiveness and flexibility current quite a few alternatives to be used in different industries, marking a major development within the area of precision nanomaterials.
This revolutionary technique represents a major leap ahead within the area of nanomaterials. By drastically lowering the processing time and growing throughput, we will now produce high-quality nanostructures at a scale that was beforehand unattainable.
Rachel Ok. O’Reilly, Professor, College of Birmingham
Professor Andrew P. Dove added, “The combination of seed preparation and dwelling CDSA in a steady stream setup is a game-changer. It not solely enhances effectivity but additionally ensures uniformity and reproducibility, that are important for the sensible software of those nanostructures.”
Our flash-freezing technique is a key innovation that enables us to attain speedy and uniform seed formation. This breakthrough opens up new potentialities for the scalable synthesis of precision nanomaterials.
Laihui Xiao, Research First Writer, College of Birmingham
Precision polymer nanoparticles have quite a few potential functions, together with vital developments in drug supply programs. These nanoparticles may allow therapeutic brokers to focus on particular cells straight, bettering the therapy of ailments like most cancers.
The speedy and environment friendly manufacturing of well-defined nanostructures additionally opens new alternatives in vitality switch functions, resembling the event of superior supplies for photo voltaic cells and different renewable vitality applied sciences.
Journal Reference:
Xiao, L., et al. (2025) Direct preparation of two-dimensional platelets from polymers enabled by accelerated seed formation. Nature Synthesis. doi.org/10.1038/s44160-025-00767-x
