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Updated: May 31, 2026

Synthesis and Characterization of Supramolecular Colloids
Published on: April 22, 2016
A facile method of synthesis of asymmetric hollow silica spheres
1Institute of Functional Polymer Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials, School of Materials and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 20092, China. yuanjunjie@tongji.edu.cn
Abstract:
This paper presents a "one-step" method to synthesize asymmetric hollow silica spheres. In this method, when positively charged polystyrene particles were blended with mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane and stirred at 50 °C in alkaline ethanol/water medium for a period of time, Janus or lobed asymmetric hollow silica spheres could be directly obtained, just changing the ratio of ethanol to water in the reaction medium. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the morphology and topography of the asymmetric hollow silica spheres. The formation mechanism was described in detail.

