An Overview of Polymersomes and Their Shape Transformation into Stomatocytes for Use as Nanocarriers and Nanoreactors

Polymersomes are self-assembled vesicles from amphiphilic block copolymers, bi-layered with a spherical morphology, that have very interesting characteristics. They have good physical and chemical stability; several changes can be made to the surface, and they can also encapsulate a wide range of molecules with different affinities to water. For these reasons, polymersomes and the different non-spherical shapes that can be obtained from them, have been the target of intense research with the ambition of creating new tools and structures within the scope of biomimicry and nanomedicine. One of the main challenges is to establish protocols for changing the shape of the polymersomes in a controlled way, to expand the number of possible applications. In this work, an overview of the most important methodologies for shape transformation is presented, along with some examples of stomatocyte applications.