Superhydrophobic surfaces as a tool for the fabrication of hierarchical spherical polymeric carriers

Hierarchical polymeric carriers with high encapsulation efficiencies are fabricated via a biocompatible strategy developed using superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces. The carries are obtained by the incorporation of cell/BSA-loaded dextran-methacrylate (DEXT-MA) microparticles into alginate (ALG) macroscopic beads. Engineered devices like these are expected to boost the development of innovative and customizable systems for biomedical and biotechnological purposes.

A.M.S.C. thanks FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) for financial support through grant BIM/PTDC/CTMBPC/112774/2009_02. This work was funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement no. REGPOT-CT2012–316331-POLARIS, by FEDER through the Competitive Factors Operation Program – COMPETE, by IACOBUS Program (GNP-AECT), and by national funds through FCT in the scope of project PTDC/CTM-BIO/1814/2012 and by MICINN (SAF2011–22771).