Preparation of chitosan–sodium alginate microcapsules containing ZnS nanoparticles and its effect on the drug release

Chitosan–sodium alginate microcapsules were prepared in the presence of ZnS nanoparticles via the W/O/W emulsification solvent-evaporation method. Microscopy showed that the microsphere was about 150 nm and by the absorption spectra, ZnS nanoparticles incorporated was 4 nm. Aspirin was chosen to investigate the effect of microcapsules on the drug release. It reveals that comparing with the microsphere without nanoparticles, the release speed of microsphere containing ZnS nanoparticles is significantly decreased from complete release at 10 h to 50% release by 50 h. The data of release kinetics for the microcapsules can be well fitted by the classic Higuchi model.