Amino-Modified Hollow Mesoporous Silica Microspheres Loaded with Cresol Red-Boric Acid for Potent Reversible Thermochromic Performance

Abstract

In this study, two reversible thermochromic composites were obtained, hollow mesoporous silica (HMS) and amino group-modified hollow mesoporous silica (HMS-NH2) microspheres loaded with cresol red-boric acid (CR-BA), respectively. Owing to the rigid structure of hollow interior and mesoporous shell layers, CR-BA was easily encapsulated into a relatively high loading capacity micro-carrier. The composites analysed were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy transmission electron microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. By amino functionalization, a more obvious thermal colour-change was observed in HMS-NH2 loaded with CR-BA. In addition, both HMS and HMS-NH2 loaded with CR-BA illustrated a sever colour reversibility, which were 5min and 3min respectively.