Synthesis of BaMoO4 hollow spheres

Based on the ‘‘polymer-cation templates’’ technique, well-defined BaMoO4 hollow spheres with an average diameter of 2.3 lm have been synthesized via a simple precipitation reaction between BaCl2 and (NH4)6Mo7O24 4H2O at room temperature in the presence of poly(methacrylic acid). The size of the hollow spheres could be tuned down to 1.5 lm by decreasing the concentrations of Ba2+ or MoO4 2– ions in the reaction solution. Compared with current fabrication routines for hollow spheres, this method is facile and cost-effective as no surfactant is needed, and can be applied to produce other inorganic hollow-structured materials.