Experimental evidence has demonstrated that the drug
carrier capacity
can be significantly enhanced through the use of hollow silica particles.
Nevertheless, the effects of varying functional drug carrier surfaces
and porous structures remain ambiguous. This study employs molecular
dynamics simulations to examine the effects of varying the surface
wettability, pore size, and flow velocity on the transfer process.
The different levels of wettability of the silica surface with the
coarse-grained water model is illustrated by adjusted interaction
parameters. The effect of wettability is investigated. With weak interactions,
the flow molecules form a nanodroplet to transfer through the porous
structure. A strong interaction will lead to molecules flowing as
a liquid film to transfer through the structure. Interestingly, the
“contradiction effect” is observed when the flow molecules
fail to penetrate the porous structure with weak interactions, during
which surface tension dominates their flow behavior. Moreover, different
porous structures are considered. The flow behaviors are divided into
three processes: (1) fast flowing, (2) transient point, and (3) penetration
flowing. Furthermore, the concept of surface molecules is defined
to quantitatively measure the effect of porosity. A recommended contact
angle is proposed. The results will pave the way for more carrier
structures in medical engineering.