Hollow silver spheres were successfully prepared by reducing AgNO3 with ascorbic acid and using negatively charged poly-(styrene-methyl acrylic acid) (PSA) spheres as templates in the presence of sodium polyacrylate as a stabilizer. Firstly, silver cations adsorbed on the surface of PSA spheres via electrostatic attraction between the carboxyl groups and silver cations were reduced in situ by ascorbic acid. The silver nanoparticles deposited on the surface of PSA spheres served as seeds for the further growth of silver shells. After that, extra amount of AgNO3 and ascorbic acid solutions were added to form PSA/Ag composites with thick silver shells. In order to obtain compact silver shells, the as-prepared PSA/Ag composites were heated at 150 degrees C for 3 h. Then hollow silver spheres were prepared by dissolving PSA templates with tetrahydrofuran. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.