Hydrogen-Bonding Layer Protecting Polyelectrolyte Capsules and Its Mechanical Property Study with Atomic Force Microscope

The hydrogen-bonding multilayered polyelectrolyte capsules with sizes around 6 μm were fabricated by layer-by-layer self-assembly method. The morphology of the obtained capsules was observed with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope (CLSM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), respectively. The elastic properties of the capsules were studied with AFM. The capsule was pressed by cantilever with different lengths, a glass bead glued at the end of the cantilever. The force curves were measured on the capsule in air. The Young's modulus of the capsule was obtained (E = 170 MPa for the loading). Results show that this model can predict the elastic deformation of the microcapsule. The accuracy of the elastic deformation of polymer capsule can be ensured using a cantilever of mediate stiffness. Our results show that the existence of the hydrogen-bonding layer makes the multilayered polyelectrolyte harder in comparison with the pure multilayered polyelectrolyte capsules.