Tailoring nanoarchitectonics to control the release profile of payloads

We demonstrate here that the control over the release rate of payloads and on the selectivity of the release can be achieved by designing nanomaterials with a hierarchical structure. Redox-responsive silica nanocapsules are first synthesized to allow for an accelerated release of the corrosion inhibitor 2-mercaptobenzothiazole as a payload upon chemical reduction and retarded release upon oxidation. In a second step, we embedded the nanocapsules into nanofibers by colloid-electrospinning, yielding a hierarchical composite structure. Remarkably, the encapsulation of the nanocapsules in the fibers provides two decisive advantages that are a higher selectivity of the release and a higher control over the release rate of payloads.