Novel microcapsule designs and manufacturing processes
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Department Name: Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Alexander Routh (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Baiocco D
(2024)
Environmentally friendly calcium carbonate-polydopamine microcapsules with superior mechanical, barrier, and adhesive properties
in Sustainable Materials and Technologies
Al-Sharabi M
(2025)
Multicore silica microcapsules containing a-tocopherol for potential consumer product applications
in Materials Advances
Lobel BT
(2025)
Nonspherical Particle Stabilized Emulsions Formed through Destabilization and Arrested Coalescence.
in Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
Baiocco D
(2025)
Organic-Inorganic Multilayer Microcarriers with Superior Mechanical Properties for Potential Active Delivery in Fast-Moving Consumer Goods.
in Industrial & engineering chemistry research
Al-Sharabi M
(2024)
Magnetic zinc oxide/silica microbeads for the photocatalytic degradation of azo dyes
in Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects
Lobel BT
(2024)
Current Challenges in Microcapsule Designs and Microencapsulation Processes: A Review.
in ACS applied materials & interfaces
| Description | We have been making spherical and non-spherical microparticles that contain an oil core and an inorganic shell. These materials can be used in laundry detergents and the fragrance or enzyme only released when desired. We have been making silica microbeads via a templated aggregation mechanism and we are putting a polymeric shell around the bead. We are measuring the adhesion of the beads onto different surfaces as well as the force necessary to crush them |
| Exploitation Route | Six papers have been published from this project with a seventh currently under review. There is a review paper which covers the entire area and a range of exemplar appers for specific systems that show non-spherical capsules through to vitamin encapsulation. The grant was a big success and was very productive. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Chemicals Energy Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Description | Infineum UK Ltd |
| Organisation | Infineum International |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Innovative company who make engine oil additives and are looking to diversify.Looking at how encapsulatio can aid their product range We are looking at friction modification using neutron reflectivity at the ISIS neutron source and use a custom built tribometer which was designed and paid for by Infineum - we have aso benefitted from proprietary Infineum purchased beamtime as well as peer reviewed time - encapsulation as investigated in this project is a clever way to contriol friction evolution over time |
| Collaborator Contribution | Knowledge of encapsulaion and demonstration of antioxidant and rheological control encapsulation |
| Impact | Alexander J. Armstrong, Thomas M. McCoy, Rebecca J. L. Welbourn, Robert Barker, Jonathan Rawle, Beatrice Cattoz, Peter J. Dowding, and Alexander F. Routh, Towards a high-shear neutron and X-ray reflectometry environment for the study of surface-active materials at solid-liquid interfaces, Scientific Reports 11:9713 2021 Alexander J. Armstrong, Rui F. G. Apostolo, Thomas M. McCoy, Finian J. Allen, Rebecca J. L. Welbourn, James Doutch, Beatrice N. Cattoz, Peter J. Dowding, Alexander F. Routh, and Philip J. Camp, Experimental and Simulation Study of Self-Assembly and Surface Adsorption of Glycerol Monooleate in n-Dodecane onto Iron Oxide. Nanoscale 16: 1952-1970 2024. |
| Description | Olivier Cayre at leeds |
| Organisation | University of Leeds |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The project is a collaboration between Leeds, Birmingham and Cambridge |
| Collaborator Contribution | Three post-docs all working closely together |
| Impact | Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Daniele Baiocco, Benjamin T. Lobel, Olivier J.Cayre, Zhibing Zhang and Alexander F. Routh, Magnetic Zinc Oxide/Silica Microbeads for the Photocatalytic Degradation of Azo Dyes, Colloids and Surfaces A 695:134169 2024. Daniel Baiocco, Benjamin Lobel, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Olivier J. Cayre, Alexander F. Routh, Zhibing Zhang Environmentally Friendly Calcium Carbonate-Polydopamine Microcapsules with Superior Mechanical, Barrier, and Adhesive Properties, Sustainable Materials and Technologies 41: e01001 2024. Daniele Baiocco, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Benjamin Lobel, Olivier J. Cayre, Alexander F. Routh, Zhibing Zhang, Eco-Friendly Fungal Chitosan-Silica Dual-Shell Microcapsules with Tailored Mechanical and Barrier Properties for Potential Consumer Product Applications, ACS Omega 9(26): 28385-28396 2024, Benjamin T. Lobel, Daniele Baiocco, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Alexander F. Routh, Zhibing Zhang and Olivier J. Cayre, Current Challenges in Microcapsule Designs and Microencapsulation Processes: A Review, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 16 (31): 40326-40355 2024. Benjamin T. Lobel, Daniele Baiocco, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Alexander F. Routh, Zhibing Zhang, Olivier J. Cayre, Non-spherical particle stabilised emulsions formed through destabilisation and arrested coalescence, Langmuir 41(1): 550-562 2025. Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Benjamin T. Lobel, Daniele Baiocco, Olivier J. Cayre, Zhibing Zhang and Alexander F. Routh, Multicore Silica Microcapsules Containing a-Tocopherol for Potential Consumer Product Applications, Materials Advances, 6:1468 - 1477 2025. Dan Baiocco, Benjamin Lobel, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Olivier Cayre, Alexander Routh and Zhibing Zhang, Organic-Inorganic Multi-layer Microcarriers with Superior Mechanical Properties for Potential Active Delivery in Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 64 (9) : 4917-4931 2025. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Zhibing Zhang at Birmingham |
| Organisation | University of Birmingham |
| Department | School of Chemical Engineering |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Three postdocs all working closely together |
| Collaborator Contribution | Project is a collaborationb between Leeds, Birmingham and Cambridge |
| Impact | Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Daniele Baiocco, Benjamin T. Lobel, Olivier J.Cayre, Zhibing Zhang and Alexander F. Routh, Magnetic Zinc Oxide/Silica Microbeads for the Photocatalytic Degradation of Azo Dyes, Colloids and Surfaces A 695:134169 2024. Daniel Baiocco, Benjamin Lobel, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Olivier J. Cayre, Alexander F. Routh, Zhibing Zhang Environmentally Friendly Calcium Carbonate-Polydopamine Microcapsules with Superior Mechanical, Barrier, and Adhesive Properties, Sustainable Materials and Technologies 41: e01001 2024. Daniele Baiocco, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Benjamin Lobel, Olivier J. Cayre, Alexander F. Routh, Zhibing Zhang, Eco-Friendly Fungal Chitosan-Silica Dual-Shell Microcapsules with Tailored Mechanical and Barrier Properties for Potential Consumer Product Applications, ACS Omega 9(26): 28385-28396 2024, Benjamin T. Lobel, Daniele Baiocco, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Alexander F. Routh, Zhibing Zhang and Olivier J. Cayre, Current Challenges in Microcapsule Designs and Microencapsulation Processes: A Review, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 16 (31): 40326-40355 2024. Benjamin T. Lobel, Daniele Baiocco, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Alexander F. Routh, Zhibing Zhang, Olivier J. Cayre, Non-spherical particle stabilised emulsions formed through destabilisation and arrested coalescence, Langmuir 41(1): 550-562 2025. Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Benjamin T. Lobel, Daniele Baiocco, Olivier J. Cayre, Zhibing Zhang and Alexander F. Routh, Multicore Silica Microcapsules Containing a-Tocopherol for Potential Consumer Product Applications, Materials Advances, 6:1468 - 1477 2025. Dan Baiocco, Benjamin Lobel, Mohammed Al-Sharabi, Olivier Cayre, Alexander Routh and Zhibing Zhang, Organic-Inorganic Multi-layer Microcarriers with Superior Mechanical Properties for Potential Active Delivery in Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 64 (9) : 4917-4931 2025. |
| Start Year | 2021 |