Jara Fornerod, Maximiliano Jesus;
Alvarez-Fernandez, Alberto;
Williams, Eric R;
Skoda, Maximilian WA;
Prieto-Simon, Beatriz;
Voelcker, Nicolas H;
Stefik, Morgan;
... Guldin, Stefan; + view all
(2022)
Enhanced Structural Control of Soft-Templated Mesoporous Inorganic Thin Films by Inert Processing Conditions.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
, 14
(50)
pp. 56143-56155.
10.1021/acsami.2c18090.
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Abstract
Mesoporous thin films are widely used for applications in need of high surface area and efficient mass and charge transport properties. A well-established fabrication process involves the supramolecular assembly of organic molecules (e.g., block copolymers and surfactants) with inorganic materials obtained by sol-gel chemistry. Typically, subsequent calcination in air removes the organic template and reveals the porous inorganic network. A significant challenge for such coatings is the anisotropic shrinkage due to the volume contraction related to solvent evaporation, inorganic condensation, and template removal, affecting the final porosity as well as pore shape, size, arrangement, and accessibility. Here, we show that a two-step calcination process, composed of high-temperature treatment in argon followed by air calcination, is an effective fabrication strategy to reduce film contraction and enhance structural control of mesoporous thin films. Crucially, the formation of a transient carbonaceous scaffold enables the inorganic matrix to fully condense before template removal. The resulting mesoporous films retain a higher porosity as well as bigger pores with extended porous order. Such films present favorable characteristics for mass transport of large molecules. This is demonstrated for lysozyme adsorption into the mesoporous thin films as an example of enzyme storage.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Enhanced Structural Control of Soft-Templated Mesoporous Inorganic Thin Films by Inert Processing Conditions |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1021/acsami.2c18090 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c18090 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Block copolymers, calcination, mesoporous, sol−gel, thin films |
| 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/10162145 |
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