External Stimuli Responsive Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Capsules Fabricated via the Colloid Templating Method

UV-responsive microcapsules consist of polyelectrolyte multilayer, lipid bilayer, and SiO2-TiO2 were fabricated by layer-by-layer assembly and sol-gel method. The small functional molecules, such as dyes, could be loaded by the exploiting the temperature-dependence of the permeability of lipid bilayer membrane on the shells. The encapsulated dyes were released on demand upon UV irradiation since the shells were ruptured by photocatalytic effect of TiO2 component.