Hybrids of Bowl-like and Crumpled Hollow Carbon Particles Synthesized through Encapsulation Templating

The one-pot synthesis of hybrid hollow nanoparticles of symmetric and asymmetric shapes is a challenging task and has rarely been reported. This work proposes a method for a high-yield synthesis of hybrid hollow carbon particles. In the first step, hexadecane/styrene (HD/St) is encapsulated in a silica shell. Then, by the polymerization of St, a silica/polystyrene double shell is formed. Finally, hollow carbon particles with bowl-like and crumpled shapes are obtained by carbonization. The results show that the ratio of diameter to thickness (D/H) for obtaining crumpled particles is ∼4-12, whereas this ratio is ∼7-18 for bowl-like particles. We study the effects of HD and St concentrations on the D/H ratio and the composition of hybrid particles. In contrast to suspensions of hollow carbon spheres, the suspensions of hybrid nanoparticles show shear-thinning behavior over the examined range of shear rates, which is attributed to their enhanced packing. The shape effect of hybrid particles also increases their adsorption on human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) compared to the hollow carbon spheres.