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Published on: January 23, 2013
Double direct templating of periodically nanostructured ZnS hollow microspheres
Alejandro Wolosiuk1, Onur Armagan, Paul V Braun
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Beckman Institute, and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
Abstract:
We introduce a "double direct templating" method for obtaining hollow microspheres with periodically nanostructured walls. Silica or polystyrene colloids are dispersed in a self-assembled hexagonal lyotropic liquid crystal containing precursors for ZnS. The semiconductor ZnS mineralizes on the surface of the colloid, expressing a pore morphology that is a copy of the structure of the liquid crystal. After etching of the sacrificial colloids, hollow capsules with templated and uniform mesoporous shells are obtained.
