Spin-coating induced self-assembly of pure silica and Fe-containing mesoporous films

Pure silica and Fe-containing mesoporous thin films have been prepared from preformed silica/triblock copolymer/ethanol precursor solutions by spin- coating. The Xray diffraction results show transformation of the mesophase structure from one-dimensional hexagonal to three-dimensional cubic structure by increasing solvent evaporation rate or by thermal transformation during the calcination process. Thus cubic pure silica and Fe-containing mesoporous films have been obtained possessing accessible mesopore channel system suitable for variety of nanotechnolgical and catalytic applications. The films show very smooth and homogeneous morphology and can be prepared with controllable thickness by varying the conditions of the spin-coating procedure. The UV-Vis spectroscopy and thermal analysis results suggest that Fe species are preferentially introduced inside the mesoporous channel system.