General synthesis of hollow composite ellipsoids

A facile and general approach towards composite hollow ellipsoids has been proposed. The parent polystyrene (PS) hollow spheres are embedded in a matrix, for example, poly(vinyl alcohol), and stretched into the corresponding ellipsoids. The aspect ratio of the ellipsoids is tunable by stretching extent. Accordingly, sulfonated PS hollow ellipsoids are achieved by sulfonation of the PS hollow ellipsoids, which will facilitate an easy complexation with functional materials. Composite hollow ellipsoids, with varied composition ranging between polymer, metal and oxides, and inorganic materials, are synthesized against the polymer ellipsoids as templates. By controlling growth of the functional materials at specific sites, structure of the composite hollow ellipsoids is controlled such as surface-pillared, single-shelled and double-shelled. This approach avoids traditional removal of polymer templates, thus guarantees the shell integrity of the composite hollow ellipsoids.