Sulfur-rich polymer nanoparticles prepared by miniemulsion polymerization.

The inclusion of sulfur in polymer materials is becoming an excellent strategy to exploit the large feedstock of elemental sulfur produced as waste by the oil industry. However, the resulting polymers have limited processability. Here we leverage the benefits of polymerization in dispersed media to produce suspensions of sulfur-rich polymer latexes that are water processable.

Tailoring the mechanoresponsive release from silica nanocapsules.

Triggering the release of encapsulated cargos using mechanical stress acting on a nanocarrier is a strategy with potential applications from drug delivery to self-healing coatings. The mechanically triggered release of encapsulated molecules can be controlled by tuning the mechanical properties of the nanocapsules, which are strongly linked to the nanocapsule architecture. Here, silica nanocarriers were designed to tune precisely the release initiated by mechanical stress.