Production of NiO, NiO/Ag, NiO/Au, and NiO/Pt hollow spheres by using block copolymer stabilized microspheres as a template

Hollow spheres of nickel oxide (NiO) and silver, gold, and platinum nanoparticle loaded NiO composites were successfully produced by using polystyrene (PS) latexes as hard template. Due to the presence of tertiary amine based diblock copolymer stabilizer on the surface of PS, the tertiary amine functional groups provided homogene deposition of nickel hydroxide, and then the precursor NiO salt production on the surface of PS latexes with a controlled precipitation technique. Then, NiO and NiO/metal NP hollow spheres were produced by calcination at 600 degrees C. Thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the amounts of NiO and NiO-composite after calcination were in the range of 21.1-29.7 wt%. The diameters of metal oxide spheres were in the range of 2.0-2.7 mu m and the shell thickness were in the range of 250-350 nm. These structures had very low densities due to their porous and hollow structures and had outer layers with highly rough surfaces due to formation of nanosheets, which may offer important advantages for catalysis studies.