Continuous Mesoporous Silica Films with Highly Ordered Large Pore Structures

The formation of continuous mesoporous silica films with large periodic cage and pore structures is reported here. The authors use low-cost commercially available triblock copolymers and poly(ethylene oxide) non-ionic surfactants as the structure-directing agents in conjunction with dip-coat processing. In the Figure a transmission electron microscope image of a calcined hexagonal mesoporous silica film is shown.