Synthesis of mesoporous silica hollow nanospheres with multiple gold cores and catalytic activity

• Core–shell Au@RF nanospheres with multiple cores were obtained by a Stöber method.
• Au@meso-SiO2 hollow nanospheres can be obtained by silica coating and calcination.
• The Au@meso-SiO2 hollow nanospheres have high surface area and uniform pore size.
• The Au@meso-SiO2 nanospheres exhibit great catalytic performance and stability.

The core–shell Au@resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) nanospheres with multiple cores have been successfully synthesized by a modified Stöber method. After coating mesoporous silica and the calcination, the Au@meso-SiO2 hollow nanospheres with multiple gold cores can be obtained, which have a high surface area (∼537 m2/g) and uniform pore size (∼2.5 nm). The Au@meso-SiO2 hollow nanospheres can be used as a catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol by NaBH4 into 4-aminophenol, and exhibit excellent catalytic performance.

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