Solvothermal-assisted synthesis of hollow Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 microspheres through carbon spheres templating

This Letter presents a facile solvothermal-assisted carbon spheres template method to fabricate hollow Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ microspheres. The key strategy of the hollow structure is absorbing sol at the inside surface layer of pores in carbon templates driven by vigorous internal thermal motion of molecules. The formation mechanism of hollow structure can be attributed to Ostwald ripening. The thermogravimetric analysis results reveal that the presented method provides the possibilities to prepare hollow inorganic microspheres with a high productivity. A series of hollow structural inorganic materials can be prepared through the presented approach, and new opportunities will be opened up to control the structures, morphologies and particle sizes of nanomaterials, as well as their properties.