Dear Colleagues,

Nanoencapsulation technologies have attracted considerable research interest over the last few years to develop advanced materials for a wide range of applications, such as: medicine, pharmaceutical, imaging technology, catalysis and agriculture. Polymeric nanocapsules have a size range from 10 nm to 1000 nm. They consist of a liquid/solid core in which the active material is placed into a cavity, which is surrounded by a distinctive natural or synthetic polymeric membrane. By a proper design of the polymeric shell, release can be tuned and controlled by different external stimuli such as light, pH, temperature, etc. As nanostructures possess greater capability to take on an extensive range of applications with extremely high and efficient reproducibility, encapsulating in the nanoscale exhibits several advantages over macro- and microencapsulation. For instance, anti-cancer drug containing nanocapsules, when administered intravenously, specifically reach the target and release the encapsulated drug. Though nanoencapsulation technologies open huge possibilities for polymeric materials application, however there are still many aspects to be developed in the field, which offer new challenges and breakthrough opportunities. Thus, this Special Issue aims to provide the readers with a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of recent developments and innovative application in this field.

In this Special Issue both original papers and reviews of experimental and theoretical studies are welcome, according to the following research areas:

• Novel protocols for nanoencapsulation technology;
• Development of new polymers for nanoshell design;
• Structure–property relationships in polymer nanocapsules and nanoparticles;
• Applications of polymeric nanocapsules and nanoparticles;
• Modelling investigations on polymeric nanosystems;
• Drawbacks and possible solutions of encapsulation at a nano-level;
• Future perspectives for polymer nanoscience and technology.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• nanocapsules
• nanoparticles
• nanotemplate
• synthetic polymers & biopolymers
• stimuli-responsive materials
• drug delivery
• magnetic properties
• imaging
• agriculture
• anti-cancer therapy
• catalysis
• transport properties
• modelling studies
• emulsion technology
• polymerization