Preparation and characterization of nanosized hollow silica in the presence of aluminum isopropoxide

Nanosized hollow silica was prepared by Stӧber method in the presence of aluminum isopropoxide. The mixture of polyelectrolytes such as poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate)(PSS) and polyacrylic acid(PAA) were used as templates. Tetraethylorthosilicate(TEOS) and aluminum isopropoxide were used as precursors for silica and alumina, respectively. The function of aluminum isopropoxide is to increase the porosity of silica shell. The characterizations of hollow silica were examined by TEM(transmission electron microscopy), TGA(thermogravimetric analysis), BET(Brunauer Emmett Teller), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDS), and FT-IR spectrum. It was found that the shell thickness of hollow silica was around 8 nm and the core diameter was around 20 nm by TEM.