Synthesis of hollow glass-ceramics microspheres via template method

Abstract

Hollow glass-ceramics microspheres (HGCM) were successfully fabricated by a simple technique using polyacrylamide microspheres (PAM) as template. The corresponding HGCM were obtained by a thermal treatment of the core–shell microspheres, which were synthesized with organic template method. The effects of the concentration of glass powder, the Hydrophile–Lipophile Balance (HLB) value, and the amount of pre-adsorbed water on the morphologies of the core–shell microspheres and HGCM have been investigated. The size, morphology, core–shell structure and crystalline phase of HGCM and core–shell microspheres were determined via XRD, SEM and TGA. The influences of initiator and surfactant on the monodispersity and average diameter of PAM were investigated via SEM. The results showed that: (a) the average diameter and monodispersity of PAM can be controlled by varying the amount of initiator and surfactant, and (b) the agglomeration of core–shell microspheres and HGCM can be reduced using PAM with pre-adsorbed water and adjusting the HLB value. In addition, the amount of solid beads decreases obviously by reducing the concentration of glass powder and adjusting the HLB value.