Synthesis and Utilization of Monodisperse Hollow Polymeric Particles in Photonic Crystals

We developed a process to fabricate 150−700 nm monodisperse polymer particles with 100−500 nm hollow cores. These hollow particles were fabricated via dispersion polymerization to synthesize a polymer shell around monodisperse SiO2 particles. The SiO2 cores were then removed by HF etching to produce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Chemical Society 2004-06, Vol.126 (25), p.7940-7945
Main Authors: Xu, Xiangling, Asher, Sanford A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alkanesulfonates - chemistry
Biocompatible Materials - chemical synthesis
Chemistry
Colloidal state and disperse state
Colloids - chemistry
Crystallization
Exact sciences and technology
General and physical chemistry
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Light
Microscopy, Electron - methods
Nanotechnology
Particle Size
Photons
Physical and chemical studies. Granulometry. Electrokinetic phenomena
Polymers - chemical synthesis
Silicon Dioxide - chemistry
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Summary:We developed a process to fabricate 150−700 nm monodisperse polymer particles with 100−500 nm hollow cores. These hollow particles were fabricated via dispersion polymerization to synthesize a polymer shell around monodisperse SiO2 particles. The SiO2 cores were then removed by HF etching to produce monodisperse hollow polymeric particle shells. The hollow core size and the polymer shell thickness, can be easily varied over significant size ranges. These hollow polymeric particles are sufficiently monodisperse that upon centrifugation from ethanol they form well-ordered close-packed colloidal crystals that diffract light. After the surfaces are functionalized with sulfonates, these particles self-assemble into crystalline colloidal arrays in deionized water. This synthetic method can also be used to create monodisperse particles with complex and unusual morphologies. For example, we synthesized hollow particles containing two concentric-independent, spherical polymer shells, and hollow silica particles which contain a central spherical silica core. In addition, these hollow spheres can be used as template microreactors. For example, we were able to fabricate monodisperse polymer spheres containing high concentrations of magnetic nanospheres formed by direct precipitation within the hollow cores.
ISSN:0002-7863
1520-5126
DOI:10.1021/ja049453k