Preparation of polystyrene-encapsulated silver hollow spheres via self-assembly of latex particles at the emulsion droplet interface

In the present work, we have developed a novel route to wrap inorganic nanoparticles in polymer hollow spheres, which includes self-assembly polystyrene (PS) latex particles at the aqueous/oil interface, sintering and γ-ray radiation reduction. The Ag/PS composite microspheres were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The advantage of this method is that the PS shell thickness, permeability, the size of composite spheres, and the quantity of the encapsulated Ag nanoparticles can be easily adjusted, which gives the product a brilliant prospect in the field of catalysis.