LAUSR

Abstract We report a simple process for the synthesis of raspberry-like hybrid colloidal particles through biphasic sol-gel process. Poly(ethylene oxide)- (PEO-) functionalized latexes with different morphologies (sphere, vesicle and fiber) were prepared through nitroxide mediated surfactant-free emulsion polymerization. In the biphasic sol-gel process, polymer latexes were first dispersed in aqueous solution of L -arginine, a basic amino acid used as catalyst. As the silica source, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) was carefully added on top of the reactor to get a two-phase solution. TEOS is slowly delivered in the aqueous solution to form silica particles which can adsorbed on the latex surface due to the hydrogen bonding between PEO and Si−OH. The size of silica shell particles can be easily controlled by tuning the TEOS content. The effect of latex sizes, content and morphologies on the morphologies of hybrid particles were investigated in this work. Both raspberry-like spheres, vesicles and fibers were fabricated with different latex templates.