Methyl methacrylate (MMA)-styrene (St) copolymer nanocapsules containing cologne essential oil for fragrant fabrics treatment were prepared by miniemulsion polymerization. The morphology, chemical composition and thermal properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The nanocapsules had relatively small size (ca. 136 nm of mean particle diameter), regular sphericity and uniform particle size distribution. The encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity of the nanocapsules were 85.4% and 42.7%, respectively. The nanocapsules had good thermostability. The release experiments showed that 6.8% cologne essential oil still existed after being washed 15 times in the fabrics treated with nanocapsules, indicating that the fabrics treated with nanocapsules had good washing durability.

A novel polysiloxane-modified aromatic nanocapsule with hard core and soft shell has been prepared by two-stage emulsion polymerization method. The core of the nanocapsule is made up of styrene/methyl methacrylate copolymer, while the shell is poly(butyl acrylate) modified by octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscope images reveal well-defined core-shell morphology of the particles, and the average particle size is about 100 nm. Ultraviolet-visible analysis shows that the essential oil can be well encapsulated by the nanocapsules and the encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity are 78.76% and 26.25%, respectively. The residual rate of essential oil is about 25.3% after being washed 15 times, which indicates that the nanocapsules have excellent washing durability. These core-shell aromatic nanocapsules show great potential application in fabrics treatment.