Encapsulation by Janus spheroids

Abstract

Micro/nano encapsulation technology has acquired considerable attention in the fields of drug delivery, biomaterial engineering, and materials science. Based on recent advances in chemical particle synthesis, we propose a primitive model of an encapsulation system produced by the self-assembly of Janus oblate spheroids, particles with oblate spheroidal bodies and two hemi-surfaces coded with dissimilar chemical properties. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we investigate the encapsulation system with spherical particles as encapsulated guests, for different densities. We study the anisotropic effect due to the encapsulating agent's geometric shape and chemical composition on the encapsulation morphology and efficiency. Given the relatively high encapsulation efficiency we find from the simulations, we believe that this method of encapsulation has potential practical value.