Mesoporous hybrid thin films: building blocks for complex materials with spatial organization

G.J.A.A. SOLER-ILLIA; P.C. ANGELOMÉ; M.C. FUERTES; A. WOLOSIUK; S.A. BILMES; F.J. LÓPEZ-ALCARAZ; H. MÍGUEZ

MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY SYMPOSIA PROCEEDINGS

MRS

Año: 2008 vol. 1007 p. 75 - 86

0272-9172

Mesoporous Hybrid Thin Films (MHTF) of a variety of compositions and embedded organic functions are produced by combining sol-gel synthesis, template self-assembly and surface modification. One-pot or post-grafting strategies permit to modify the pore surface behavior. Highly controlled MHTF issued from a reproducible and modular synthesis can be used as building blocks for more complex structures, presenting order at larger scales, and novel  properties derived from this multiscale order. Multilayer stacks of MHTF presenting specific and different functions and frameworks located in a well-defined position have been produced by combining sequential film deposition, selective functionalization and dissolution. These systems present new properties such as localized chemistry or modulable photonic crystal behavior. In the last few years, synthesis routes have been developed to create Mesoporous Hybrid Thin Films (MHTF) by combining sol-gel synthesis, template self-assembly and surface modification. Currently, the two main routes explored (one-pot and post-grafting) permit to reproducibly obtain a palette of oxide and hybrid networks with a variety of organic or biological functions located in the inorganic framework or pore surface. These MHTF are indeed a “nanofacility”, where the properties of tailored functional pores as well as the distance between them can be controlled. The multifunctional features of MHTF arise from the combination of the properties imparted by the pore geometry and the organic modifiers.