Hérault, Nelly Fromm, Katharina M. 2017-06-01 This study demonstrates the significant influence of the polystyrene removal pathway on the TiO₂ nanocapsules obtained from PS@TiO₂ core-shell particles. In a first step, the polystyrene spheres were coated with titanium oxide via hydrolysis and condensation of the titanium precursor to form PS@TiO₂ core-shell particles. Then, the creation of the empty cavity to form TiO₂ nanocapsules was achieved by removing the polystyrene template by i) thermal decomposition of the polystyrene or ii) dissolution of the polystyrene using Soxhlet extractor followed by a thermal procedure. These pathways to remove the polystyrene were investigated by thermogravimetric studies, IR spectroscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction. The final TiO₂ nanocapsule structure strongly depends on the sacrificial polystyrene removal pathway. The preservation of the TiO₂ nanocapsules was obtained essentially when the polystyrene was dissolved before the crystallization of the TiO₂. application/pdf https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/306009 https://folia.unifr.ch/documents/306009/files/fro_isp.pdf https://folia.unifr.ch/documents/306009/files/fro_isp_sm.pdf eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1002/hlca.201700014 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess License undefined Helvetica Chimica Acta. - 2017, vol. 100, no. 6, p. e1700014 TiO₂ Nanocapsules Synthesis Polystyrene decomposition Polystyrene dissolution info:eu-repo/classification/udc/54 Influence of the sacrificial polystyrene removal pathway on the TiO₂ nanocapsule structure http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501