Controlled formation of polyamine crystalline layers on glass surfaces and successive fabrication of hierarchically structured silica thin films

The formation of silica films on the glass plate whose surface was precoated by crystalline linear poly(ethylenimine) (LPEI) in advance was systematically investigated via controlling the surface-specific crystallization of the LPEI on the glass plate. Immersing glass substrates into a hot aqueous solution of LPEI containing additives such as transition metal ions and acidic compounds and retaining them on 30 °C for desired periods resulted in the formation of crystalline LPEI layers on the substrates. Subsequently dipping this LPEI-coated glass into silica source solutions afforded successfully hierarchically structured silica film which coated continuously the surface of the substrates. In this two-step process, we found that the formation of hierarchically structured silica films strongly depended on the LPEI layer formed from the LPEI aqueous solutions containing different additives. The LPEI layer formed by changing the kinds of additives and their concentrations provides the differently structured silica films composed of turbine-like structures flatly lying-on and/or vertically standing-on as well as ribbon network structures on the surface of the substrates. Moreover, we functionalized these silica films by the introduction of hydrophobic alkyl chains or emissive Eu(III) complexes and investigated their wettability and emission properties.