Fabrication of silica nanocomposite-cups using electrospraying

We have investigated a new process for the fabrication of nanocomposite cups by electrospraying blended polymer–sol–gel solutions followed by calcination. Due to the low viscosity and high surface tension of the blended polymer–sol–gel solutions, the electrostatically extruded continuous liquid jet from the spray source became tiny droplets with diameters of less than 1 µm. These droplets dried in transit and were collected at the counter electrode. To eliminate polymers, as well as cross-link sol–gel material, they were calcined at 850 °C for 3 h. We also investigated a probable method to control the morphology of the nanocups by changing the ionic concentration of the polymer solution. This is a simple and efficient approach for producing nanocomposite cups, which cannot be made by the aggregation method. These nanocomposite cups may find applications in drug delivery and filtration media.