Fabrication of Monodispersed Needle-Sized Hollow Core Polystyrene Microspheres

摘要

Among fascinating polymer structures, porous and hollow core structures are usually desirable because of their numerous applications. Herein, we present hollow core structures of polystyrene (PS) microspheres via a simple one-pot novel synthesis using Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) emulsifiers. The colloidal microspheres are assembled into a non-compact order of colloidal crystal arrays. Microscopic analysis showed that CTAB emulsifier can influence a micelle to act as a soft template for the fabrication of PS particles with inner core hollow interior compared to SDS emulsifier. The optical analysis of the SDS-emulsified PS colloidal crystal films gave wavelengths of 527.011 nm and 642.967 nm that varied from yellow to red colouration as the observation angle changed from 2 to 10 °C, respectively, while CTAB-emulsified PS colloidal crystals showed wavelengths of 556.233 nm and 589.442 nm that corresponds to monochromatic yellow colour that did not change with observation angles. This economic and environment-friendly one-pot procedure can be used to generate a soft-micelle template for the actualization of hollow PS microspheres that may find potential applications as catalysts, fillers, coating materials and drug delivery.