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Facile fabrication of metal oxide hollow spheres using polydopamine nanoparticles as active templates
Author(s) -
Shen Heng,
Long Yuhua,
Yang Xiaoli,
Zhao Ning,
Xu Jian
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/pi.4913
Subject(s) - materials science , oxide , nanoparticle , ethylene oxide , dispersity , calcination , chemical engineering , metal , polymerization , template , propylene oxide , nanotechnology , copolymer , polymer chemistry , polymer , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , catalysis , engineering , metallurgy
A facile method of fabricating metal oxide hollow spheres using polydopamine ( PDA ) nanoparticles as active templates is reported. Monodisperse PDA nanoparticles were prepared by the polymerization of dopamine in Tris buffer solution containing various amounts of poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(propylene oxide)–poly(ethylene oxide) ( PEO‐PPO‐PEO ). The diameter of the resultant PDA nanoparticles decreased from about 180 to 80 nm with an increase of PEO‐PPO‐PEO concentration from 0 to 1.25 mg mL −1 . The active groups of PDA and also the PEO‐PPO‐PEO adsorbed on the PDA spheres can chelate with various metal ions. It was found that when PDA spheres with diameter below 100 nm were used as templates, diverse metal oxide hollow spheres like CeO 2 , NiO and Cr 2 O 3 could be obtained after calcination, demonstrating the diversity of this method for fabricating various metal oxide hollow spheres. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry