Abstract
A facile approach, based on polyelectrolyte-mediated electrostatic adsorption of a water-soluble titanium complex on colloidal templates and hydrothermal treatment, is presented for the formation of hollow titania (TiO2) and strontium titanate (SrTiO3) spheres. Monodispersed silica gel particles were prepared by the sol–gel method and adopted as core templates. Deposition of a water-soluble titanium complex, titanium (IV) bis(ammoniumlactato)dihydroxide (TALH), on the silica gel particles was carried out via the layer-by-layer assembly technique. Hollow spheres were successfully formed from the core–shell particles. The silica gel particles used as core templates dissolved during hydrothermal treatment because of the particles’ undeveloped siloxane network. In addition, the hydrothermal treatment induced crystallization of the hollow shells. Therefore, the hydrothermal treatment played two roles; removal of the silica templates and crystallization of the hollow shells. When deionized water was used, hollow TiO2 spheres were obtained. Hollow SrTiO3 spheres could also be formed when an aqueous solution of Sr(OH)2 was used. The approach presented here could be exploited as a novel and sustainable approach for the fabrication of a range of different inorganic hollow spheres.
Published Version
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