LAUSR

Abstract Hollow microcapsules are of great interest to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, especially in the field of drug delivery and personalized drug. However, the microcapsules made by polyelectrolytes are soft and unstable in the harsh environment. An improved layer-by-layer (LbL) method is reported here to fabricate hard-shell microcapsules cross-linked by Ca2+. The zeta potential measurement confirms the coverage and LbL intact structure. The additional antibacterial property is introduced via dispersed silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). The SEM and TEM confirm the dispersion of the metal nanoparticles uniformly on the microcapsules. The antibacterial property is confirmed via the inhibition zone test on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The in vitro controlled-release of ibuprofen (IBU) embedded in the microcapsules exhibits a two-stage release behavior: a fast release at the initial bust phase within the first hour and a subsequent prolonged release of 10 h for 80 wt% and complete release needs ca. 20 h. The success synthesis of this bifunctional microcapsule opens a new channel’s applications of microcapsules in the food, agriculture, biotechnology, pharmaceutical industries, drug delivery and novel material design.