Preparation and characterization of micron-sized hollow polysiloxane spheres

A novel procedure has been developed to prepare micron-sized hollow polysiloxane spheres by consecutive condensation of methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) hydrolysis products onto micron-sized polystyrene (PS) seed particles, subsequently removing the template PS core by calcination. The thickness of the shell could be easily varied with different PS seed and MTMS feed ratio. The size of these hollow spheres was determined by the diameter of the PS seed and the thickness of the polysiloxane wall. The core-shell particles and hollow spheres were investigated by SEM, TEM, size analyzer, and IR.