Synthesis and crystallization of hybrid spherical colloids composed of polystyrene cores and silica shells

The Stober method has been adopted to prepare hybrid core-shell particles by coating the surfaces of monodisperse polystyrene beads with uniform silica shells. Polystyrene beads with diameters in the range of 0.1-1.0 mum have been successfully demonstrated for use with this process, and the thickness of the silica coating could be controlled in the range of 50-150 nm by adjusting the concentration of tetraethoxysilane, the deposition time, or both. The morphology and surface smoothness of the deposited silica were found to strongly depend on a number of parameters such as the surface functional groups on the polymer beads, the pH value of the medium, and the deposition time. Hollow spheres made of silica could be obtained by selectively removing the polymer cores via calcination in air at an elevated temperature or by wet etching with toluene. These core-shell colloids were also explored as building blocks to fabricate long-range ordered lattices (or colloidal crystals) that exhibited stop bands different from those assembled from spherical colloids purely made of either polystyrene or silica.