Synthesis and characterization of translucent MgO-doped Al2O3 hollow spheres in millimeter-scale

Translucent MgO-doped Al2O3 hollow spheres with millimeter-scale in diameter were prepared by a three-sintering-step method using polystyrene (PS) spheres as template through connection function of chitosan-assistant aggregation. The as-prepared hollow spheres were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) and Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA). The results show that the obtained translucent MgO-doped Al2O3 hollow spheres has diameter of 1-2 mm, wall thickness of 130 μm and 532 nm pulse laser transmittance of 50%. It is also noted that the formation of PS-Al2O3 core-shell spheres is based on the connection function of -OH and -NH2 groups in chitosan molecules. This method provides a synthesizing method for preparing translucent millimeter-scale hollow spheres which have a great potential application for Inertial Confined Fusion (ICF) required hollow pellet.