Abstract
Combination of organic and inorganic components in a same phase has been proposed to produce materials of specific properties coming from synergic contribution of single component properties. In this work different procedures were followed to synthesise carrageenan/silica hybrid micro-beads both starting from single carrageenan beads and poly-cationic polymer (Poly-L-lysine) coated carrageenan beads. Different parameters were tested: nature of silica precursor, precursor/water ratio, pH, and catalysts. Results show that different morphologies (filled micro-beads, core-shell systems) with different textures varying with synthesis conditions can be obtained. <br />Morphologic, textural and structural micro-beads characteristics, before and after calcinations at 550 °C, were determined by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), termogravimetric analysis (TGA), confocal scanning light microscopy (CSLM), EDX and N2 adsorption. Formation mechanism of these materials has been proposed.