Fully Biobased Size-Tunable UV-Absorbing Nanoparticles for Photoprotection

Abstract

There is a growing interest in developing products from biobased and environmentally friendly material. In particular, the use of biobased materials in the development of functional nanoparticles can result in novel and high performance materials with an entirely biobased composition. In this work, we explore the two biopolymers ethyl cellulose and zein for the preparation of biobased functional nanoparticles. We first explore the synthesis of nanoparticles from ethyl cellulose via an upscalable synthesis technique and find that the particle size can be tuned between 50 and 165 nm.

We then investigate these ethyl cellulose nanoparticles, and nanoparticles from another biopolymer (zein), as carriers for biobased photoprotectants (quercetin, retinol, and p-coumaric acid) for applications in photoprotection. The prepared biobased photoprotective nanoparticles from ethyl cellulose/zein with encapsulated biobased photoprotectants have the potential to satisfy both environmental and health issues, currently encountered, in photoprotection. We found that the composition of these biobased photoprotective nanoparticles could easily be tuned and the nanoparticles could prepare effective, UV-absorbing, transparent coatings.

The findings in this work show the excellent potential for photoprotective nanoparticles from ethyl cellulose and zein in photoprotection applications, because of their easy tunability in size and composition, upscalable potential and biobased and environmentally friendly composition. These results also have significant implications for the more general field of functional nanoparticles.