Cover Image, Volume 49, Issue 22

The article on page 4735 by Anika Schrade, Viktoria Mikhalevich, Katharina Landfester, and Ulrich Ziener gives insight into the synthesis and characterization of positively charged, silica-armored polymer particles prepared by using styrene and different hydrophilic monomers in miniemulsion copolymerization. By changing the reaction parameters, the influence on the colloidal characteristics is analyzed via various methods providing insight into the interactions between the silica particles and the polymer surface. Those surfactant-free cationic hybrid particles are highly intriguing for cellular uptake experiments. The illustration combines the schematic synthesis, structural investigation, as well as preliminary cell experiments, visualizing the cationic silica-armored hybrid nanoparticles internalized in vital HeLa cells.