Biorelevant mesoporous silicon / polymer composites: directed assembly, disassembly, and controlled release

We describe in this account a general, yet facile strategy for the directed assembly of bioactive composite materials comprised of an erodible organic polymer such as polycaprolactone and physiologically-resorbable inorganic mesoporous silicon. This method exploits a combination of capillary forces and selective interfacial coupling chemistry to produce isolable macroscale (mm sized) structures possessing a diverse range of geometries through simple mixing rather than intricate molding processes. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability of such constructs to dissociate into their individual building blocks, with the concomitant release of embedded model compounds in a sustained manner.