LAUSR

The underlying trend of colloidal synthesis has focused on extending the structure and composition complexity of colloidal particles. Hollow and yolk-shell particles are successful examples that have potential applications in frontier fields. In this paper, we develop a facile and controllable etching method based on the molecular exchange of the dynamic imine bond to generate cavities in polymer particles. Starting from boronate ester polymer particles and inorganic@boronate core-shell particles with the imine bonds incorporated in the polymer networks, our etching method easily affords hollow and yolk-shell particles with tunable shell thicknesses. The molecular exchange dynamics analysis indicates that guest amine molecules cause the reconstruction of imine bonds and the leakage of molecular and oligomer fragments, resulting in the formation of the hollow structure. This molecular exchange-based etching method may be of interest in the construction of polymer architectures with increased composition and structure complexities. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.