Hollow inorganic-organic hybrid microspheres, such as silica, titania, and zirconia, with interior poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) functionalized shell were synthesized by a general method containing a two-stage reaction. The hollow inorganic shell-layer with interior polymeric component was formed over the PMAA template during the second-stage controlled hydrolysis of inorganic precursors together with disintegration of PMAA cores and adhering to the interior wall of the silica during the drying process due to the capillary force as well as the competitive hydrogen bond interaction. In this process, PMAA microspheres were prepared by distillation precipitation polymerization of methacrylic acid (MAA) in acetonitrile as the first-stage reaction. The present work elaborately investigated the effects of the reaction conditions, including the amount of the tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) precursors and the amount of ammonium hydroxide catalyst on the morphology and structure of the resultant hollow composite microspheres, which were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.