In this article, we present a novel synthesis of mesoporous SiO2/Ag nanostructures for dye (methylene blue) adsorption and surface plasmon mediated photocatalysis.

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In this study composite nanofibres of PVA consisting of polystyrene/n-octadecane nanocapsules were prepared. The n-octadecane present as a core of the nanocapsules acts as a phase change material (PCM) for thermal storage properties. Controlled size nanoencapsulated PCMs were prepared by surfactant free RAFT miniemulsion polymerization of styrene. These nanocapsules were incorporated into nanofibres by electrospinning a mixture of nanocapsule latex containing octadecane as a core and polystyrene (PS) as a shell material with an aqueous solution of poly(vinyl alcohol). The morphology and thermal properties of the resultant PVA nanofibres were studied by field emission scanning microscopy (FE-SEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The composite nanofibres could show a latent heat storage capacity of approx. 4-5 J g À1 . This method offers the opportunity to produce low diameter composite nanofibres with uniform dispersion of encapsulated material for various applications.