A novel approach toward Snowman-like polymer/SiO2 hybrid nanoparticles via gas-driving

Abstract

For the first time, we report an interesting transition from conventional core–shell polymer/SiO₂ particles to self-stable snowman-like particles, which can be achieved by adding a low-boiling point oil-soluble monomer because the volatile monomer not only plays a lubrication role, but also acts as a gas “motor” to drive the silica precursor polycondensate migration.