Hexagonally patterned mixed surfactant-templated room temperature synthesis of titania–lead selenide nanocomposites

Materials science is becoming a more and more important influencer in electronics, as new synthesis methods and new materials are consistently coming to fruition. In particular, templated synthesis schemes offer unique material options, various alignments, and micro- to nanoscale control over morphology. Surfactant and co-surfactant templating, further, offers the ability to synthesize composite materials via phase separation. Currently, nanoscale manipulation of sophisticated functional materials typically requires energy-intensive or time-intensive processes. The present study illustrates the use of a room temperature synthesis of hexagonally patterned lead selenide-titania nanocomposites, utilizing a versatile mixed surfactant-templating approach. We have found that the level of control of the simple bi-surfactant system presented illustrates the tunability of the micro- and nanostructure. The current system also utilizes a room temperature synthesis—not energy intensive—and the kinetics of the titania precursor reaction with water are extremely fast—not time intensive. Furthermore, while simple, this elegant templated synthesis strategy for creating highly organized composite materials has wide applications beyond the one currently reported, including photocatalysis, photonic crystals, sensors, among others. We anticipate our templated synthesis to be a starting point for more sophisticated nanoelectronic devices. For example, the pores can be impregnated with a variety of nanoparticles or many of the same nanoparticles can be synthesized concurrently and be well dispersed within the template. Furthermore, the templated system presented makes use of titania but can be easily adapted for other metal oxide or ceramic systems by simply changing the precursor.