Simple synthesis of mesoporous alumina thin films

Mesoporous alumina thin films with ordered 2D hexagonal or wormhole-like rnesoporosity has been successfully synthesized using aluminum chloride as the inorganic precursor, triblock copolymer (Pluronic F-127 or P-123) as the structure-directing agents, through the evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method. The resulting materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and nitrogen sorption. The possible formation mechanism of the ordered mesoporous alumina thin films was discussed based on the experimental results. Using this route, the hydrolysis rate of the inorganic species can be effectively and easily controlled which has not been achieved in such way in an aluminum based system previously and such simple route may be applied in the synthesis of other non-silica mesostructured oxides. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.