Ultrasonic Breaking of Fibers and Microparticles into Mesoporous Particles with High Loading of Magnetic Nanoparticles

Abstract

Herein, a facile method for the large-scale production of mesoporous polymer/nanoparticle (NP) composites, with high-loading-efficiency of nanoparticles, is presented. The composite fibers and microparticles composed of polystyrene (PS), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), and Fe2O3 NPs were obtained by electrojetting. After selectively dissolving the PEO phase, simple ultrasonication broke the porous fibers and the microparticles into numerous small mesoporous composite particles. For the breaking of the fibers and microparticles, the use of low-molecular-weight polymer was critical. As an example demonstration, we produced mesoporous PS particles with a large amount of magnetic NPs.