Hollow Titania Spheres from Layered Precursor Deposition on Sacrificial Colloidal Core Particles

Abstract

The preparation of monodisperse hollow titania spheres with defined diameter, wall thickness, and crystal phase by the layer-by-layer templating of colloid particles and subsequent calcination (see Figure) is reported. A major advantage associated with this type of colloid templating is that it can be conducted from any aqueous solution. Nanometer-level control over the sphere wall thickness is achieved by varying the number of layers deposited on the particles.