Electrosprayed titania nanocups for protein delivery

This communications paper presents an innovative, reproducible and scalable method of producing phase pure titania (TiO2) nanocups by electrospraying using titania isopropoxide (TIP) as precursor with polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) as a polymer and also discusses about the protein delivery of synthesized TiO2 nanocups. PVAc-TIP was electrosprayed to form particles with cup morphology at room temperature which was later converted into anatase TiO2 by controlled heating up to 550°C while retaining the shape. The as-synthesized and calcined samples were characterized by SEM, TEM, DLS, XRD and FT-IR techniques. The loading and release profile of bovine serum albumin (BSA) by the nanocups showed a maximum loading and sustained release as compared to electrosprayed spherical TiO2 nanoparticles using the same precursors and heating conditions.