The effect of surfactant removal on continuous mesoporous ultra-thin silica films—A study by X-ray reflectivity, X-ray diffraction and Kr adsorption

Nonionic Fluorinated Surfactant Removal from Mesoporous Film Using sc-CO2

“…Indeed the surfactant is the key component which dictates after removal the porosity and the structure of the silica backbone. , If in the early stages, powdered samples were the sole materials that were synthesized, very rapidly many researchers tried to design such materials in thin films. − Pioneered by J. Brinker the most common technique to make highly organized thin films is the EISA (evaporation induced self assembly) process, which consists of fostering the self-assembly of the surfactant during the fast evaporation of a volatile solvent such as ethanol together with the concomitant condensation of the silica network in acidic condition under controlled relative humidity. Highly ordered crystalline thin films have thus be synthesized with the ultimate goal to produce mesoporous materials by removing the surfactant either by calcination, solvent extraction or UV-light exposure. − Accessing the porosity is indeed of paramount importance in many applications such as dye sensitive solar cells (low-k) dielectric materials, for functionalizing the pore surface or to address the condensation of fluids inside the pores . So far hydrocarbon surfactants (cationic, nonionic, and anionic) were mostly used as templates because they are the most common ones available on the market at a cheap price.…”

Microstructure and nanomechanical properties of magnetron sputtered Ti − Nb films

“…(c))[50][51][52]. It should be noted, however, that the discrepancy between bulk and experimental density can be potentially attributed to several other factors beyond porosity, i.e.…”