Hollow Microcapsules with Controlled Mechanical Properties Templated from Pickering Emulsion Droplets

Hollow microcapsules with controlled mechanical strength are obtained from Pickering emulsion templates. The shell of the hollow microcapsules comprising UV-curable resin and reactive silica nanoparticles enables tuning of the mechanical properties in a controlled manner. The results show that the particle stabilizer can be packed regularly on the oil–water interface and the shell thickness of microcapsules can be increased to 1–2 µm compared with traditional preparation methods. Hollow particles with thicker walls can prevent collapse and breakage. In this work, a nanoindentation device is used to measure the mechanical properties of hollow particles, and the results show a clear trend of reduced modulus and hardness decreases with increasing ratio of prepolymers in the reaction mixture. When the mass of PUA varies from 10% to 30%, the hardness decreases from 0.09 to 0.04 GPa, while the reduced modulus decreases from 0.17 to 0.06 GPa. The control of mechanical properties of the microcapsule can enhance its uses in conventional areas as well as in new fields such as precise micro force sensors etc.