Capillary-force-induced formation of luminescent polystyrene/(rare-earth-doped nanoparticle) hybrid hollow spheres.

This paper presents a "one-pot" procedure to synthesize polystyrene/(rare-earth-doped nanoparticles) (PS/REDNPs) hybrid hollow spheres via the in situ diffusion of organic core into inorganic shell under strong capillary force. In this approach, when carboxyl-capped PS colloids were deposited by different REDNPs in aqueous medium, such as LaF3:Eu3+, LaF3:Ce3+-Tb3+, and YVO4:Dy3+, PS/REDNPs inorganic-organic hybrid hollow spheres could be directly obtained via the in situ diffusion of core PS chains into the voids between rare-earth-doped nanoparticles through the strong capillary force. Not only is the synthetic procedure versatile and very simple, but also the obtained hybrid hollow spheres are hydrophilic and luminescent and could be directly used in chemical and biological fields.