Biodegradable Polymer Microcapsules

Dear Colleagues,

Microencapsulation is a technology that has gained prominence over the years. Different microencapsulation methods have been developed to encapsulate a wide range of compounds, and they are used in several industrial fields, such as in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics, self-healing materials, and adhesives industries. In this context, novel microencapsulation processes must be developed, or the existing ones must be optimized, to obtain products with high added value in response to human needs.

There is increasing interest in the use of biodegradable polymers due to the negative impact of microplastics on the environment. Additionally, most biodegradable polymers can be easily excreted out of the body due to their ability to be eroded in small non-toxic residues. Therefore, biodegradable polymers could have very promising applications in synthetic microcapsule systems employed in commercial applications.

The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight the fundamental aspects and progress in the field of biodegradable polymer microcapsules with a special focus on the following topics:

• Fundamental science for the design and functionalization of biodegradable microcapsules;
• Methods for microcapsule production;
• Microcapsules’ morphology;
• Encapsulation efficiency;
• Release kinetics and triggering mechanisms;
• The synthesis of polymers for biodegradable microcapsules;
• Biodegradability studies;
• Applications of biodegradable polymer microcapsules;
• Life cycle analysis of biodegradable microcapsules;
• Scale-up processes of biodegradable microcapsules;
• The data-science-assisted development of emerging biodegradable microcapsules and their applications.

Dr. Ana C. Marques
Dr. António Aguiar
Guest Editors

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