The wettability of pharmaceuticals is a key physical property which influences their dissolution rate, dispersibility, flowability and solid-state stability. Here, we provide a platform of surface nanoengineering methods capable of tuning the wettability of drug powders from high hydrophilicity to superhydrophobicity with drug loadings up to 95–99%. Specifically, we functionalize gram-scale micronized budesonide, a commercial active pharmaceutical ingredient for respiratory diseases, in a vibrated fluidized bed reactor with inorganic Al₂O₃, TiO₂ and SiO₂ by atomic layer deposition (ALD), organic poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) by molecular layer deposition (MLD) and inorganic/organic titanicone by hybrid ALD/MLD. Transmission electron microscopy shows the formation of smooth and uniform films for each deposition process without significantly affecting the surface morphology of the budesonide particles. Crucially, the deposition processes do not alter the solid-state structure and cytocompatibility of budesonide. The ceramic ALD films are able to convert the originally hydrophobic budesonide into highly hydrophilic powders with water contact angles (WCAs) of ~10° within a few seconds. The purely organic PET films grown via MLD deliver superhydrophobic powders with a WCA of 145–150°. In contrast, the titanicone hybrid ALD/MLD films lead to mild hydrophilicity with WCAs ranging from ~80° to ~60°. Modifying the wetting properties of inhaled drug powders such as budesonide is relevant to improve bioavailability, enhance the dispersion of formulations in suspension-based inhalers or prevent moisture interactions in dry powder inhalers. Moreover, by tuning the surface chemical composition at the atomic or molecular level, particle ALD, MLD and hybrid ALD/MLD enable control over powder wettability for several pharmaceutical dosage forms with applications in oral, orally inhaled and parenteral delivery.

In this work, we report molecular layer deposition (MLD) of ultrathin poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films on gram-scale batches of ultrafine particles for the first time. TiO2 P25 nanoparticles (NPs) are coated up to 50 cycles in an atmospheric-pressure fluidized-bed reactor at 150 °C using terephthaloyl chloride and ethylene glycol as precursors. Ex-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and transmission electron microscopy show the linear growth at 0.05 nm/cycle of uniform and conformal PET films, which are unattainable with conventional wet-phase approaches. The sub-nanoscale and nanoscale PET films not only suppress the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 NPs by hindering the access of water and reactant molecules to the TiO2 surface but also improve the dispersibility of TiO2 NPs in both organic and aqueous media. Still, the bulk optical properties, electronic structure, and surface area of TiO2 are essentially unaffected by the MLD process. This study demonstrates the industrial relevance of MLD to simultaneously suppress the photoactivity and enhance the dispersibility of commercial TiO2 P25 nanopowders, which is crucial for their use for example as UV-screening agents in sunscreens and as white pigments in paints. Moreover, by rapidly modifying the surface properties of particles in a controlled manner at the sub-nanometer scale, particle MLD can serve many other applications ranging from nanofluids to emulsions to polymer nanocomposites.

The development of advanced heat transfer fluids (HTF) with enhanced heat transfer properties has been identified as a key target to increase the efficiency of industrial processes. In this work, heat transfer performance improvements of a novel nanofluid, consisting of metallic nanoparticles dispersed in a commercial thermal oil, were investigated. Nanofluids combining tin nanoparticles (1 mass %) with Therminol 66 (TH66) were synthesised using the two step-method and experimentally analysed. The effectiveness of biosurfactant addition and nanoparticle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nanocoating for high temperature nanofluid stabilisation were independently investigated. The PET nanoscale coatings were grown by molecular layer deposition, which has been used for the first time in this field. The thermal conductivity, dynamic viscosity and specific heat capacity of the stable, oil-based nanofluids were characterised at high temperatures, and the results were compared and in good agreement with models found in the relevant literature. Finally, the heat transfer performance of the nanofluids with respect to their base fluids was evaluated, employing empirical values for the thermophysical properties of the involved materials. In this way, increments of the heat transfer coefficients up to 9.3% at 140 °C, relevant to industrial applications were obtained.