A green and facile strategy for the fabrication of all-natural porous proteinaceous microspheres

Porous microspheres have received considerable attention because of their applications in catalysis, cargo delivery and energy conversion. However, most reported porous microspheres are formed via complex procedures using inorganic materials or synthetic polymers, which are not sustainable. Herein, we develop a facile approach to the fabrication of protein porous microspheres templated from an oil-in-(ethanol/water)-in-oil double emulsion, where zein is dissolved in the middle phase and phase separation occurs after the removal of ethanol, which avoids the polymerization and protein crosslinking. This porous structure and natural composition makes them excellent candidates for cargo delivery and water remediation.