Building nano-thin shells for all-polymer hollow multishelled spheres: Rigidity and reaction-shrinkage of composite network

Abstract

Due to the hierarchical structures, all-polymer hollow multishelled sphere (p-HoMS) possesses great potentials for diverse applications. To preserve self-supportive morphology, the multi-shells have to grow into thick ones for sufficient structural strength. And it is challenging to construct p-HoMS with nano-thin shells, facing difficulties in both spherical formation and shell separation. Herein, we propose a new synthetic mechanism, namely integrating strong rigidity with reaction-shrinkage of composite membranes. Rigid network is the backbone for spherical formation, while reaction-shrinkage fast separates shells. The obtained p-HoMS is tunable in shell number up to 70 shells with nanoscale thickness (60–140 nm). This work can provide a novel insight for the easy fabrication of hierarchical p-HoMS and guide the rational structure design towards diverse demands.