Approachable Way to Synthesize 3D Silica Hollow Nanospheres with Mesoporous Shells via Simple Template‐Assisted Technique

Abstract 3D porous silica hollow nanospheres (PSHNSs) with mesoporous walls have been successfully fabricated by simple template‐assisted method using tetraethoxysilan (TEOS) as a silica precursor and glucose‐derived functionalized carbon spheres (FCSs) as hard templates. Template‐precursor hybrid composite spheres were formed by direct adsorption of the silica precursor onto the surface layers of the FCSs. After etching of the template via oxidation in air, free standing 3D PSHNSs were obtained. The resulting PSHNSs were ∼ 85 nm in size as indicated by both SEM and TEM images. BET analysis has shown that nanospheres to have a large specific surface area up to 400 m 2 /g. The fascinating structure of 3D PSHNSs may provide more accessibility and good contacts with reactants that is very important in the fields of catalysts, gas adsorbent, heavy metals removal, electronics, and so on.