Versatile synthesis of nanometer sized hollow silica spheresElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: experimental; IR and XPS; AFM, SEM and TEM images. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/cc/b2/b212811j/

Using the controlled precipitation of silicic acid on functionalized polystyrene latexes, nanometer sized silica-coated spheres could be prepared and subsequently modified to allow dispersion in non-aqueous solvents; removal of the interior polymer by calcination resulted in the formation of hollow silica spheres.