Preparation and optical characterization of mesoporous silica films with different pore sizes

Abstract

Mesoporous silica films with three different pore sizes were prepared by using cationic surfactant, non-ionic surfactant, or triblock copolymer as structure directing agents with tetramethylorthosilicate as silica source in order to control the pore size and wall thickness. They were synthesized by an evaporation-induced self-assembly process and spin-coated on Si wafer. Mesoporous silica films with three different pore sizes of 2.9, 4.6, and 6.6 nm and wall thickness ranging from similar to 1 to similar to 3 nm were prepared by using three different surfactants. These materials were optically transparent mesoporous silica films and crack free when thickness was less than 1 mu m. The photoluminescence spectra found in the visible range were peaked at higher energy for smaller pore and thinner wall sized materials, consistent with the quantum confinement effect within the nano-sized walls of the silica pores.