Facile preparation and characterization of glass/Fe3O4core/shell composite hollow spheresElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental details, typical solvent compositions for the preparation of different samples, SEM images of the pristine HGS, XRD patterns of the pristine HGS and the as-obtained glass/Fe3O4core/shell composite hollow spheres, SEM images of the glass/α-Fe2O3composite spheres as the precursors, TEM and HRTEM images of a single multi-layered wafer, SEM images of the glass/Fe3O4core/shell composite hollow spheres obtained with a FeCl2concentration of 0.05M and the isolated Fe3O4particles obtained in the absence of HGS. See DOI: 10.1039/b901052a

Novel glass/Fe3O4core/shell composite hollow spheres with the shell layer assembled by multi-layered wafers were successfully synthesized by reduction of a glass/α-Fe2O3precursor, which was obtained through a facile solvothermal process. The effects of some reaction parameters on the morphology of the shell layers and the magnetic properties of the products were investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]