Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
Novel metallic capsules containing magnetite with given size in the sub-micron range have been produced. These nanocapsules are prepared in several steps through a colloidal templating approach. The first step is the synthesis of size-selected SiO2 nanospheres. The second step is coating the SiO2nanospheres by electroless deposition with gold, in order to form a porous gold shell around the silica. Electroless deposition is controlled by the concentration of gold in the coating solution. Subsequently, the core (SiO2) was removed to obtain gold capsules. The final step is the inclusion of magnetite nanoparticles inside these nanocapsules and recoating the capsules with gold in order to have continuous encapsulation. The nanocapsule and core-shell structure have been characterized by TEM and DSC