Abstract

Coacervate-core micelles constitute an important class of nanoaggregates, typically in the range of 50 – 100 nanometer, that are of interest for their application in material and biomedical sciences. We have developed a strategy to obtain insight in the formation, stability and properties of micelles, exploiting 5-10 nanometer PAMAM Dendrimer-Encapsulated Nanoparticles (DENs) as the core-building block, hence coined DENdrimicelles. The electron-dense nanoparticles allow for straightforward analysis by cryo-TEM of these hierarchical nanostructures over multiple length scales. Cryo-TEM of the DENdrimicelles provides insight in the periodicity of different generations of used dendrimers, the aggregation number of the corresponding micelles, insight in the core-properties, details on mesoscale organization, and surprising aspects on stability of thin-layers.

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