Formation of gold hollow spheres by rapid heating–cooling process

Abstract

Although gold hollow spheres show unique advantages in fields like catalysis, the available synthesis strategies have low atom and economic efficiency. In this paper, Au hollow spheres were produced by combining simple wet chemical method and rapid heating–cooling process, in which rapid temperature rise caused Au evaporation and rapid cooling froze gold “bubbles.” The control experiments confirmed the presence of supports which limit the growth and sintering of Au nanoparticles to some extent, and slower heating rate inhibits the hollowing of gold sphere. This work provides a new strategy for the rapid and facile synthesis of Au hollow spheres, offering a wide range of possibilities for energy storage and biosensing applications.