Controlling morphology and particle size of hollow poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) microspheres fabricated by template-based method

Hollow poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) (P(S-DVB)) microspheres were fabricated via template-based method including synthesis of silica particles by sol-gel method, preparation of silica/P(S-DVB) particles by dispersion polymerization and chemical etching of silica cores by NaOH solution. TEM, FTIR and TG analyses confirmed that the hollow P(S-DVB) microspheres were successfully obtained. The morphology of hollow P(S-DVB) microspheres could be controlled by adjusting the amounts of DVB, AIBN and VTES, and the round-ball-like hollow P(S-DVB) microspheres were fabricated when the amount of DVB, AIBN and VTES was 30.0 wt%, 5.0 wt% and 30.0 vol% respectively. Both the size of silica particles and amount of monomers were regarded as the two key factors to control the particle size of the round-ball-like hollow P(S-DVB) microspheres.