Microencapsulation is recognized as an effective method for the protection of various types of active substances in various fields of application, such as medicine, agrochemistry, industrial chemistry and, more recently, textiles. One of the most widely used techniques is encapsulation by interfacial polymerization, in which a reaction occurs and thus a wall is formed at the interface between the aqueous and organic phase. The core material can be a liquid solid or dispersed substance that is emulsified within a continuous phase until the desired emulsion size is reached. This is followed by the addition of monomers and the start of polymerization at the interface. An important feature of microcapsules is their surface charge, which allows them to adhere better to the target surface.
In my master's thesis, I was able to obtain microcapsules with positive and negative charge, as well as microcapsules without charge, with various additives. Charge was determined with the zeta potential measurement. To characterize the samples, I performed analysis on an optical microscope, gravimetric analysis, and measurement of particle size distribution. Finally, I impregnated the samples on textile materials, for which I used the method of odor intensity determination to analyse the adhesion of microcapsules with different charges.
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