Nano-Sized Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes: Potential Protein Carriers and Diagnostic Tools

By using a novel method of thermo-controlled emulsion polymerization, we prepared biocompatible nano-sized spherical polyelectrolyte brushes which consist of a solid polymer core and a poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) shell covalently attached on the core surface densely by one end. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was employed to determine the size of the brushes and to monitor the brush growing during the preparation. The size of the brush is tunable by controlling pH and salt concentration in the solution while the pH and salt concentration inside the brush keep constant due to the polyelectrolyte Donnan effect. These nano-sized spherical polyelectrolyte brushes should be ideal candidates for protein carriers and diagnostic tools after attaching diagnostic groups inside the brushes.