Tuning the optical properties of mesoporous TiO2 films by nanoscale engineering

The optical properties of spin-coated titanium dioxide films have been tuned by introducing mesoscale pores into the inorganic matrix. Differently sized pores were templated using Pluronic triblock copolymers as surfactants in the sol-gel precursor solutions and adjusted by varying the process parameters, such as the polymer concentration, annealing temperature, and time. The change in refractive index observed for different mesoporous anatase films annealed at 350, 400, or 450 °C directly correlates with changes in the pore size. Additionally, the index of refraction is influenced by the film thickness and the density of pores within the films. The band gap of these films is blue-shifted, presumably due to stress the introduction of pores exerts on the inorganic matrix. This study focused on elucidating the effect different templating materials (Pluronic F127 and P123) have on the pore size of the final mesoporous titania film and on understanding the relation of varying the polymer concentration (taking P123 as an example) in the sol-gel solution to the pore density and size in the resultant titania film. Titania thin film samples or corresponding titanium dioxide powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction, cross-section transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption, ellipsometery, UV/vis spectrometry, and other techniques to understand the interplay between mesoporosity and optical properties.     

结晶二氧化钛多孔球的常压液相制备

利用沸水处理有机钛前驱体球较为便捷地制备出结晶二氧化钛多孔球,采用XRD、SEM和TEM对二氧化钛球进行表征,并探讨了二氧化钛球锐钛矿纳米晶形成以及形貌变化的机理。结果表明：延长沸水处理时间有利于多孔结构的形成和纳米粒子的晶化,随处理时间的增加,前驱体球表面变得越来越粗糙,二氧化钛结晶度也逐渐增强。其形成机理主要归因于沸水处理过程中有机钛前驱体球原位发生的完全水解和聚合。     

Fabrication of Porous Titania Particles from Water-in-Oil Emulsions for the Applications of Photocatalyst

In this study, polystyrene nanospheres were synthesized by dispersion polymerization using batch-type reactor for the self-organization with precursor materials inside emulsion droplets. Mechanical homogenization was applied for the emulsification of the polymeric nanospheres and titanium diisopropoxide bis (acetylacetonate) to produce the macroporous titania particles by evaporation-driven self-assembly. Similarly, spherical titania crystallites could be synthesized via self-organization using triblock copolymer instead of polymeric latex beads after successive calcination. The morphologies of the porous particles were observed using electron microscope, and the crystallinity of the porous titania particles was analyzed by powder x-ray diffraction. As a demonstrative application, the macroporous titania microparticles with anatase phase were adopted as photocatalyst for the decomposition of Rhodamine B, and excellent catalytic performance was observed with higher rate constant compared to the result from commercial titania nanocolloid. Collectively, our macroporous titania microparticles were found to be safe catalytic materials for human body minimizing the skin toxicity since the size of the catalysts is in the micron-range.     

Synthesis of submicrometer-sized titania spherical particles with a sol-gel method and their application to colloidal photonic crystals

A synthetic method for preparing submicrometer-sized titania particles is proposed, which is based on hydrolysis of titanium alkoxide with the use of a cosolvent and an amine catalyst for alkoxide hydrolysis. The preparation was performed with different amines of ammonia, methylamine (MA), and dimethylamine (DMA) in different solvents of ethanol/acetonitrile, ethanol/methanol, ethanol/acetone, ethanol/acetonitrile, and ethanol/formamide for 0.1-0.3 M water and 0.03 M titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) at temperatures of 10-50 degrees C. The use of the ethanol/acetonitrile solvent with MA was required for preparing monodispersed, spherical particles. The number average of the titania particle sizes and their coefficient of variation were varied from 143 to 551 nm and from 5.7 to 20.6%, respectively, with reaction temperature and concentrations of water and MA. Colloidal crystals of titania particles fabricated with a sedimentation method revealed reflection peaks attributed to Bragg's diffraction. Annealing at 100-1000 degrees C led to shrinkage and crystallization of titania particles followed by an increase in the refractive index of titania particles.     

Swollen poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) as a template for inorganic morphologies

We report a series of silica, titania, and zirconia microstructures synthesized within swollen poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). Voids created by solvent-swelling the polymer are used to template the product. The inorganic morphologies range from spheres to networks, depending upon the nature of the polymer, its degree of swelling, and the synthetic conditions. Organic solvents as well as pure metal alkoxide liquids have been used to swell the polymer. Once the alkoxide precursor is inside the swollen polymer, water is introduced to bring about hydrolysis and condensation polymerization. The product is a textured metal oxide within a PDMS matrix. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) were used to characterize the products. Microstructures formed in this manner have potential use as an inexpensive route to catalysts, fillers, capsules, or membranes for separations.     

Synthesis of Submicron-Sized Titania-Coated Silica Particles with a Sol-Gel Method and Their Application to Colloidal Photonic Crystals

A previously proposed method for preparing monodispersed titania particles was extended to preparation of titania-coated silica spherical particles. The core silica particles with an average size of 264 nm were prepared with Stöber method. The titania-coating was performed in ethanol/acetonitrile solvent in the presence of silica particles by a sol-gel method with the use of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) and methylamine (MA) catalyst. Average size of the silica-titania particles decreased from 457 to 292 nm with an increase in concentration of silica particles. Coefficient of variation for the particle size was less than 5%. Colloidal crystals could be fabricated with a dip-coating technique and a sedimentation process, respectively. Measurements of reflectance revealed peaks based on the Bragg diffraction. Those peaks red-shifted with an increase in titania shell thickness because of a high refractive index of titania. Annealing at high temperature transformed crystal structure of titania shell from amorphous to anatase (500°C) and rutile (1000°C), which led to red-shift of reflection peak because of an increase in refractive index of titania due to the crystallization.     

Atomic Force Microscopic Studies of Porous TiO2 Thin Films Prepared by the Sol-Gel Method

Porous titanium dioxide thin films were prepared from alkoxide solutions with and without polyethylene glycol (PEG) by the sol-gel method on soda-lime glass. The effects of PEG addition to the precursor solution on the microstructure and roughness of the resultant thin films were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was found that TiO₂ films prepared from the precursor solution without PEG had granular microstructure and flat texture, and was composed of about 100 nm spherical particles. With an increase in the times of coating cycles, the roughness of films decreased and the size of TiO₂ particles increased. On the other hand, the larger the amount and molecular weight of the added PEG in precursor solutions, the larger the diameter and the depth of pores in the resultant films on the decomposition of PEG during heat-treatment. The surface of the films was also rougher, and fewer pores were produced during heat-treatment. The mechanism of porous structure formation in the TiO₂ films was explained using the principle of spinodal phase separation.     

Preparation of polymer colloids by chemical reactions in aerosols. I. Poly(p-tertiarybutylstyrene)

A procedure was developed by which polymer colloids can be prepared by polymerizing aerosol droplets of monomers with an initiator in the vapor state. This work describes the formation of poly(p-tertiarybutylstyrene) particles by exposing the corresponding monomer droplets to trifluoromethanesulfonic acid. It was found that the monomer-to-initiator mass ratio is the critical factor in determining the uniformity and morphology of the particles. Under ideal conditions spheres of narrow size distribution are obtained. Otherwise porous particles or soft particles with whiskers may develop. The aerosol was prepared in a falling film generator, but other procedures for producing monomer droplets may be used.     

以多孔CaCO3微球为模板制备聚乙烯超疏水表面

以聚苯乙烯磺酸钠（PSS）掺杂的多孔碳酸钙（CaCO3）微球层为模板,通过热压低密度聚乙烯（LDPE）并结合酸蚀刻的方法制得了具有多层粘联微球结构、而非常见蜂窝状多孔结构的LDPE稳定超疏水表面（接触角152.8±2.5°,滚动角约6°）。元素分析表明,表面粘联微球为纯LDPE而非LDPE包覆的CaCO3。将多孔CaCO3微球稀疏地撒在LDPE表面并加热熔融,发现微球会自发沉降到熔体内部,酸蚀刻后形成了类似莲蓬的表面微结构,即坑内包含小球。结合CaCO3微球生成原理和多孔结构,认为粘联微球结构和莲蓬结构均是由于LDPE熔融大分子自发沉积到多孔CaCO3微球内部,“反模”形成了LDPE微球所致。本发现为多孔CaCO3微球的应用开辟了新方向。     

Seeded growth of titania colloids with refractive index tunability and fluorophore-free luminescence

Titania is an important material in modern materials science, chemistry, and physics because of its special catalytic, electric, and optical properties. Here, we describe a novel method to synthesize colloidal particles with a crystalline titania, anatase core and an amorphous titania-shell structure. We demonstrate seeded growth of titania onto titania particles with accurate particle size tunability. The monodispersity is improved to such an extent so that colloidal crystallization of the grown microspheres becomes feasible. Furthermore, seeded growth provides separate manipulation of the core and shell. We tuned the refractive index of the amorphous shell between 1.55 and 2.3. In addition, the particles show luminescence when trace amounts of aminopropyl-triethoxysilane are incorporated into the titania matrix and are calcined at 450 °C. Our novel colloids may be useful for optical materials and technologies such as photonic crystals and optical trapping.     

Structural Study of Mesoporous Titania Prepared from Titanium Alkoxide and Carboxylic Acids

Mesoporous titania with regulated pore size as well as high specific surface area was prepared from titanium alkoxide and various carboxylic acids with different alkyl-chain length [CH₃(CH₂) _n COOH : n = 0–20]. Although the pore size and pore volume of titania changed slightly at n < 10, they increased with increasing the alkyl-chain length of carboxylic acid at n 10. Each carboxylic acid forms a complex with titanium alkoxide in an organic-inorganic precursor, while the precursor prepared by using carboxylic acid with n 10 consists of a lamella-type mesophase. The interplanar distance of the lamella structure increases with increasing the alkyl-chain length of carboxylic acid. During calcination, the lamella structure collapses together with the combustion of organic moieties and titania particles crystallized to anatase aggregate to provide pores. Although carboxylic acid does not act as a true template, the formation of the lamella-type mesophase in the precursor plays an important role in controlling the pore size of titania.     

High Refractive Index Films Prepared from Titanium Chloride and Methyl Methacrylate via a Non-Aqueous Sol–Gel Route

Poly(methylmethacrylate)/silica/titania films were prepared via a nonaqueous sol–gel route at ambient temperature, followed by spin-coating and multistep baking. The acrylic monomers used were methyl methacrylate (MMA) and 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (MSMA). Silicic acid and titanium(IV) chloride were used as the precursors of the inorganic component. FTIR results indicated the successful bonding between TiO₂ and SiO₂. TEM images suggested the silica/titania particles were well dispersed in the Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix with the particles size smaller than 40 nm in our study. The refractive index and extinction coefficient were also studied. The refractive index of the hybrid increased with increasing the titania content, and the hybrid films showed high optical transparency in visible region.     

The effect of different stabilizers on the formation of self‐assembled porous film via the breath‐figure technique

The Breath‐Figure technique was employed to imprint honeycomb structures in the polymer films via the condensation of water vapor on the surface of an evaporating polymer solution. Generally, the condensed water droplets can be stabilized by an end‐functional polymer or by particles added to the polymer solution. In this study, we carried out a systematic experiment on the effect of different stabilizers on the porous honeycomb structure under identical physical conditions. The end‐functional polymer produced a large area of regular spherical bubbles, whereas adding particles to the polymer solution leads to smaller arrays of the flattened bottom bubbles. The separation length between pores was larger for polymer/particle sample than that of the end‐functional polymer films. In the regular area of polymer/particle film many bubbles were not decorated by particles. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 49: 1430–1436, 2011     

Electron Microscopic Study on Aerosol-Assisted Synthesis of Aluminum Organophosphonates Using Flexible Colloidal PS-b-PEO Templates

A wide variety of synthetic approaches from homogeneous precursor solutions have so far been developed for precise structural design of materials in multiscale. In organic templating approaches for porous materials design, we have recently developed a new approach to fabricate colloidal polystyrene-block-poly(oxyethylene) (PS-b-PEO) templated large pores that can be controlled in thick films of aluminum organophosphonate (AOP). In this study, we extended this approach using colloidal PS-b-PEO aggregates to aerosol-assisted synthesis for the fabrication of spherical particles. Structural variations (morphology and porous structure) depended on the synthetic conditions, which were mainly investigated by using electron microscopies (SEM and TEM). In addition to the insight on the colloidal PS-b-PEO templating of spherical pores in AOP spheres, it was found that colloidal PS-b-PEO aggregates were flexible for further design of pore shape that was strongly affected by external morphology. In this context, we proposed this method as flexible colloidal PS-b-PEO templating to fabricate unusual macroporous structures during morphological control from precursor solutions containing colloidal PS-b-PEO aggregates. The insights will be promising for precise construction of unique devices using porous materials templated by colloidal organic aggregates. In addition, we found a useful water adsorption-desorption behavior over the macroporous AOP bulky powders when the macropores were connected through large pores, which is also significant for future development of AOP-based porous materials.     

Fabrication of spherical colloidal crystals using electrospray

We demonstrated the use of electrohydrodynamic atomization to prepare uniform-sized emulsion droplets in which equal spheres of silica or polystyrene were dispersed. The size of the emulsion droplets was easily controlled by the electric field strength and the flow rate, independently of the diameter of the nozzles. During the evaporation of solvent in the droplets, spherical colloidal crystals were formed by self-assembly of the monodisperse colloidal spheres. The diameter of the spherical colloidal crystals was in the range of 10-40 microm. Depending on the stability of colloidal particles, the morphology of the self-assembled structure was varied. In particular, silica spheres in ethanol droplets were self-assembled into compactly packed silica colloidal crystals in spherical shapes, whereas polystyrene latex spheres in toluene droplets self-assembled into spherical colloidal crystal shells with hollow cores. The silica colloidal assemblies reflected diffraction colors according to the three-dimensionally ordered arrangement of silica spheres.     

Hierarchical porous materials made by drying complex suspensions

Porous structures containing pores at different length scales are often encountered in nature and are important in many applications. While several processing routes have been demonstrated to create such hierarchical porous materials, most methods either require chemical gelation reactions or do not allow for the desired control of pore sizes over multiple length scales. We describe a versatile and simple approach to produce tailor-made hierarchical porous materials that relies solely on the process of drying. Our results show that simple drying of a complex suspension can lead to the self-assembly of droplets, colloidal particles and molecular species into unique 3D hierarchical porous structures. Using a microfluidic device to produce monodisperse templating droplets of tunable size, we prepared materials with up to three levels of hierarchy exhibiting monodisperse pores ranging from 10 nm to 800 μm. While the size of macropores obtained after drying is determined by the size of initial droplets, the interconnectivity between macropores is strongly affected by the type of droplet stabilizer (surfactants or particles). This simple route can be used to prepare porous materials of many chemical compositions and has great potential for creating artificial porous structures that capture some of the exquisite hierarchical features of porous biological materials.     

三维有序多孔图案化SiC陶瓷的制备

结合毛细管微模塑技术、模板技术和先驱体转化技术, 以图案化聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)弹性体为模具,以氧化硅凝胶小球为模板, 以液态聚碳硅烷(PCS)为先驱体, 经过氧化硅凝胶小球图案化模板的形成, 先驱体的渗入, 模板中先驱体的交联, 弹性模具的去除, 图案化先驱体的无机化和模板的去除, 制备了图案化多孔SiC 陶瓷.研究结果表明：所制备的图案化多孔陶瓷中, 图案的尺寸受图案化PDMS 弹性模具的控制, 球形孔的孔径可由氧化硅凝胶小球来调节. 图案化陶瓷中球形孔不仅三维有序排列, 而且由于模板中小球的相互接触形成的“窗 口”使球形孔三维贯通.     

Porous structures of polymer films prepared by spin coating with mixed solvents under humid condition

We investigate the effects of interfacial energy between water and solvent as well as polymer concentration on the formation of porous structures of polymer films prepared by spin coating of cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) in mixed solvent of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and chloroform under humid condition. The interfacial energy between water and the solvent was gradually changed by the addition of chloroform to the solvent. At a high polymer concentration (0.15 g/cm3 in THF), porous structures were limited only at the top surfaces of CAB films, regardless of interfacial energies, due to the high viscosity of the solution. At a medium concentration (approximately 0.08 g/cm3 in THF), CAB film had relatively uniform pores at the top surface and very small pores inside the film because of the mixing of the water droplets with THF solution. When chloroform was added to THF, pores at the inner CAB film had a comparable size with those at the top surface because of the reduced degree of the mixing between the water droplets and the mixed solvent. A further decrease in polymer concentration (0.05 g/cm3 in THF) caused the final films to have a two-layer porous structure, and the size of pores at each layer was almost the same.     

Microfluidic platform for the generation of organic-phase microreactors

Rapid prototyping photolithography of a thiolene-based resin was used to fabricate microfluidic devices stable to aliphatic and aromatic organic solvents. The swelling of the cross-linked polymer matrix in various organic solvents was quantified, and the solvent resistance properties of these microfluidic devices are described. Discrete droplets of hexanes and toluene of uniform size were generated in microfluidic devices inside a water matrix containing SDS surfactant (SDS = sodium dodecyl sulfate). Variation of water and organic flow rates in the fluidic channels was used to control droplet size and separation. Droplet composition could be controlled by varying flow rates of two joined organic streams. Organic-phase synthetic reactions within the droplets were demonstrated with the bromination of alkenes inside benzene droplets.     

Creeping motion of an assemblage of composite spheres relative to a fluid

The sedimentation of a homogeneous distribution of spherical composite particles and the fluid flow through a bed of these particles are investigated theoretically. Each composite particle is composed of a spherical solid core and a surrounding porous shell. In the fluid-permeable porous shell, idealized hydrodynamic frictional segments are assumed to distribute uniformly. The effect of interactions among the particles is taken into explicit account by employing a fundamental cell-model representation which is known to provide good predictions for the motion of a swarm of nonporous spheres within a fluid. In the limit of a small Reynolds number, the Stokes and Brinkman equations are solved for the flow field in a unit cell, and the drag force exerted by the fluid on the particle is obtained in a closed form. For a distribution of composite spheres, the normalized mobility of the particles decreases or the particle interactions increase monotonically with a decrease in the permeability of their porous shells. The effect of particle interactions on the creeping motion of composite spheres relative to a fluid can be quite significant in some situations. In the limiting cases, the analytical solutions describing the drag force or mobility for a suspension of composite spheres reduce to those for suspensions of solid spheres and of porous spheres. The hydrodynamic behavior for composite spheres may be approximated by that for permeable spheres when the porous layer is sufficiently thick, depending on the permeability.