Mesoporous Ordered Silica Films: From Self-Assembly to Order

Description

This book introduces the fascinating world of self-assembly in mesoporous ordered silica films. Beginning from a single droplet, it guides the reader, in a step-by-step learning process, how to obtain and control ordered porous mesophases in thin films by varying only the precursor chemistry and the process. It explains, in great detail, how order control is achieved through chemical design and post-deposition processing, the latter of which is a unique property in materials science. The book places a special focus on silica, whose particularly complex chemistry enables order control over a range of different length scales. This book is suitable for students and researchers in the fields of sol-gel or colloidal chemistry and interested in the topics of self-assembly and mesoporous phases. Preface Contents 1 Mesoporous Materials and Self-assembly References 2 The Chemical-Physical Processes Behind Self-assembly 2.1 The Thermodynamics of Self-assembly 2.2 The Formation Pathway 2.2.1 Cooperative Self-assembly Pathway 2.2.2 Liquid Crystal Templating Pathway 2.2.3 True Liquid Crystal Templating 2.3 The Kinetics 2.3.1 Controlling the Kinetics in Silica Systems 2.4 Interaction at the Interface 2.5 Surfactants and Micelle Templating Agents 2.5.1 Low Molecular Weight Charged Surfactants 2.5.2 Mesostructures Templated by Amphiphilic Block Copolymers 2.6 Self-assembly of Block Copolymers 2.7 Self-assembled Micelles 2.7.1 The Packing Factor 2.7.2 The Effect of Solvent and Cosolvent References 3 The Sol–Gel Chemistry of Silicon for Self-assembly 3.1 Sol–Gel Chemistry for Self-assembly 3.1.1 Silica Hydrolysis and Condensation 3.1.2 Effect of Aging 3.1.3 Sol-Aging and Cyclization of Silica 3.2 Interfacial Curvature References 4 Evaporation Induced Self-assembly 4.1 A General Overview of Evaporation Induced Self-assembly 4.2 Tunable Steady State 4.3 What Type of Structure 4.3.1 2D Mesostructures 4.3.2 3D Mesostructures 4.3.3 Tricontinuous 3D Architectures 4.4 Mesophase Transition During Processing References 5 Peering into Evaporation During Self-assembly 5.1 Evaporation of Water and Ethanol 5.2 Sol–Gel Reactions in a Silica Film During Evaporation 5.3 Micellization During EISA 5.4 Evaporation Kinetics During Self-assembly 5.5 Simultaneous Time-Resolved In-Situ Analysis 5.6 Evaporation and Processing Conditions References 6 From Defects to Controlled Alignments 6.1 Point Defects 6.2 Linear Defects 6.2.1 Disclinations 6.2.2 Dislocations 6.3 Planar Defects, “Polycrystalline-Monocrystalline” Mesostructures 6.4 Orienting the Mesostructure References