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ZrO 2 , CaCO 3 , and Fe 4 [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3 Hollow Nanospheres via Gelatin‐stabilized Microemulsions
Author(s) -
Zurmühl Christian,
Popescu Radian,
Gerthsen Dagmar,
Feldmann Claus
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.354
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1521-3749
pISSN - 0044-2313
DOI - 10.1002/zaac.201400340
Subject(s) - gelatin , materials science , microemulsion , nanoparticle , phase (matter) , thermogravimetry , chemical engineering , scanning electron microscope , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , sorption , analytical chemistry (journal) , transmission electron microscopy , adsorption , nanotechnology , chemistry , pulmonary surfactant , composite material , organic chemistry , engineering
ZrO 2 , CaCO 3 , and Fe 4 [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3 hollow nanospheres are prepared via gelatin‐stabilized microemulsions. ZrO 2 and CaCO 3 hollow spheres exhibit outer diameters of 10–20 nm, a thickness of the sphere wall of 4 nm and an inner cavity diameter of 6–12 nm; Fe 4 [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3 is with outer diameters of 50–60 nm, a wall thickness of 15 nm, and an inner cavity diameter of 25–30 nm. The hollow nanospheres turn out as readily crystalline although prepared at room‐temperature. Gelatin increases the viscosity of the polar micelle phase and thereby reduces the diffusion in the water phase. This measure is essential to obtain hollow spheres and to avoid the formation of massive nanoparticles. All as‐prepared hollow nanospheres are characterized by different electron microscopic techniques (STEM, HRTEM), infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), thermogravimetry (TG), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). In the case of ZrO 2 , the hollow sphere structure is even maintained after thermal removal of gelatin at 600 °C. Moreover, CO 2 sorption analysis shows reversible CO 2 uptake of 96 mg · g –1 (80 bar, 50°°C) at a specific surface area of 98 m 2 · g –1 . As the adsorption of N 2 is much lower (17 mg · g –1 at 80 bar, 50°°C), the ZrO 2 hollow nanospheres can be interesting for CO 2 ‐N 2 separation as well as catalytical reactions with CO 2 . All hollow nanospheres, and especially CaCO 3 , can become relevant for drug delivery and release.