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Tuning Pore Dimensions of Mesoporous Inorganic Films by Homopolymer Swelling

Reid, B; Alvarez-Fernandez, A; Schmidt-Hansberg, B; Guldin, S; (2019) Tuning Pore Dimensions of Mesoporous Inorganic Films by Homopolymer Swelling. Langmuir , 35 (43) pp. 14074-14082. 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b03059. Green open access

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Abstract

The functionality and applications of mesoporous inorganic films are closely linked to their mesopore dimensions. For material architectures derived from a block copolymer (BCP) micelle coassembly, the pore size is typically manipulated by changing the molecular weight corresponding to the pore-forming block. However, bespoke BCP synthesis is often a costly and time-consuming process. An alternative method for pore size tuning involves the use of swelling agents, such as homopolymers (HPs), which selectively interact with the core-forming block to increase the micelle size in solution. In this work, poly(isobutylene)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) micelles were swollen with poly(isobutylene) HP in solution and coassembled with aluminosilicate sol with the aim of increasing the resulting pore dimensions. An analytical approach implementing spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and ellipsometric porosimetry (EP) alongside atomic force microscopy (AFM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in transmission and grazing-incidence (GISAXS) modes enabled us to study the material evolution from solution processing through the manifestation of the mesoporous inorganic film after BCP removal. The in-depth SE/EP analysis evidenced an increase of more than 45% in mesopore diameter with HP swelling and a consistent scaling of the overall void volume and number of pores. Importantly, our analytical toolbox enabled us to study the effect of swelling on the connecting necks between adjacent pores, with observed increases as high as ≈35%, offering novel pathways to sensing, electrochemical, and other mass-transfer-dependent applications.

Type: Article
Title: Tuning Pore Dimensions of Mesoporous Inorganic Films by Homopolymer Swelling
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b03059
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b03059
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10085385
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