Adsorption of binary liquid crystals onto cellulose membrane for thermo-responsive drug delivery

A thermo-responsive membrane was developed by adsorbing the binary liquid crystals (LC) onto the cellulose nitrate membrane. The binary LC mixture is consisted of 36% cholesteric oleyl carbonate (COC) and 64% cholesteryl nonanoate (CN). The physico-chemical and the thermo-responsive properties of this binary LC adsorbed-membrane were examined. The results indicate that the adsorption behavior of binary LC mixture on the cellulose membrane was quick and reached to the equilibrium about 10 min, and linearly correlated with the increase of LC concentration used. The hydrophilic membrane was hydrophobicized after adsorption of binary LC mixture. The focal conic fan textures of binary LC mixture were observed from the surface of cellulose membrane. Due to the obedience and reproducibility of the binary LC used, the binary LC mixture-adsorbed membrane continuously exhibited an on-off thermo-responsive sensitivity to control the drug penetration.