Hollow microspheres with covalent-bonded colloidal and polymeric shell by Pickering emulsion polymerization

Hollow microspheres with SiO2/polymer binary shell were fabricated from Pickering emulsion stabilized solely by methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane-modified SiO2 particles, and were characterized by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transformation infrared spectrum, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The microspheres were templated by the Pickering droplets and the inner structure was affect by the proportion of crosslinking reagent. TGA result indicated that 60.3% of polymer in the shell was connected with SiO2 by covalent bond which was formed by copolymerization of styrene and the reactive C=C group on SiO2 stabilizer. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.