This work presents a novel structure for lactose particles with hollow interiors and flower-like shapes. The main methods used in this material fabrication technique have been spray drying and templating, where the effect of particle size (5-15 pm) and feed concentration (5-20% w/w) has been studied. After focused ion beam (FIB) etching, the interior structures of the spray-dried particles and the flower-like lactose particles have been observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM); the small particles (similar to 5 mu m) are solid; the medium-sized particles (similar to 10 mu m) are hollow; the large particles (similar to 15 mu m) are shell-like. In a drug-loading assay, acetaminophen of 2.7 0.4% (w/w) concentration has been loaded in the flower-like lactose particles, which have a high surface area of 30 +/- 7 m(2)/g and peaks in the pore size distribution at 3.4, 5.6 and 12.4 nm (diameter). Confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) mapping shows that the position of acetaminophen molecules in lactose particles depends on the interior structure. (C)2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.