**3. Preparation methods**

The production of polymeric nanocapsules has been increasing in the last decade, mainly in relation to the great potential of their applications in the fields of Biology, Medicine, and Pharmaceutics. The characteristics and usability of these nanosystems depend strongly on the production method chosen and the process variables, as well as on the formulation materials used [5]. On these grounds, several methods and processing techniques have been developed in the last two decades to obtain nanocapsules with the desired properties and biological performance according to their purpose. Generally, there are three classical methods for the preparation of polymeric nanocapsules—nanoprecipitation, emulsion template method, and layerby-layer method [6, 21]. Regardless of the method used, the production of core-shell structures requires a non-solvent/continuous phase (water) and a solvent/dispersed phase (organic solvent that can be removed later), plus one or more polymers and surfactants to contribute to structure and stability, respectively. The nanocapsules are obtained as colloidal dispersions, or in powder if some drying method is added.
