title: One-pot fabrication of rattle-like capsules with multicores by pickering-based polymerization with nanoparticle nucleation.
abstract: Rattle-like polymer capsules with multicores in one shell are facilely fabricated by oil-in-water Pickering emulsion polymerization for the first time. The oil phase contains hydrophobic silica nanoparticles dispersed in polymerizable monomer, styrene, and unpolymerizable solvent, hexadecane. The multicore rattle-like capsules are facilely produced after the polymerization of monomers in the oil droplets. The key point of this one-pot method lies in the nucleation of hydrophobic silica and the phase separation between the resulting polystyrene and hexadecane. The influences of the contents of silica, hexadecane, cross-linker, and stabilizer on the structure and morphology of rattle-like capsules are systematically investigated. Moreover, functionalization of the rattle-like capsules can be developed easily by varying hydrophobic nucleation nanoparticles in the oil phase. This work opens up a new route to fabricate multilevel capsules or spheres.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Materials Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
authors.forename: Shengwen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Chaoyang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000737:chemistry; D002214:Capsules / Q000737:chemistry*; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D004655:Emulsions / Q000737:chemistry; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009821:Oils / Q000737:chemistry; D058105:Polymerization; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D002214:Capsules; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D004655:Emulsions; D009821:Oils; D011137:Polystyrenes; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; C007932:n-hexadecane
keywords: colloids; core-shell polymers; emulsion polymeriza­tion; nanocomposites; polystyrene (PS)