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Pore size control of block copolymer-templated sol–gel-synthesized titania films deposited via spray coating

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel and hybrid materials for energy, environment and building applications
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Abstract

We combine a sol–gel route with spray coating to obtain porous titania films, using the block copolymer polystyrene-block-polyethylene oxide (PS-b-PEO) as a structure-directing template of the titania nanostructures and titanium(IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) as the titania precursor. Due to the water-induced phase separation and self-assembly of PS-b-PEO and TTIP, a bicontinuous crystalline anatase titania foam structure results after a calcination step. At different sintering temperatures, ranging from 400 to 800 °C, the titania films are analyzed by X-ray diffraction to determine the crystal phase of the titania foams. This study demonstrates that the pore size of the titania foam films can be controlled by different amounts of TTIP used in the sol–gel solution and by the spray parameters of the applied spray coating. Homogenous porous films with a titania network architecture can be achieved from optimizing the number of spray shots used for the film deposition.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by funding from the Excellence Cluster “Nanosystems Initiative Munich” (NIM), the International Research Training Groups 2022 Alberta/Technical University of Munich International Graduate School for Environmentally Responsible Functional Hybrid Materials (ATUMS) and the Bavarian Collaborative Research Project “Solar Technologies Go Hybrid” (SolTech). B. S., L. S. and Y. Y. acknowledge funding by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and V. K. financial support from Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Science and the Arts via the project “Energy Valley Bavaria.” We thank Professor Alexander Holleitner and Peter Weiser for the chance to carry out SEM measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Funktionelle Materialien, Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Str. 1, 85748, Garching, Germany

    Bo Su, Volker Körstgens, Yuan Yao, David Magerl, Lin Song, Ezzeldin Metwalli & Peter Müller-Buschbaum

  2. Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Strada Statale 14 - km 163.5 in AREA Science Park, Basovizza, 34149, Trieste, Italy

    Sigrid Bernstorff

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  1. Bo Su
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Correspondence to Peter Müller-Buschbaum.

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Su, B., Körstgens, V., Yao, Y. et al. Pore size control of block copolymer-templated sol–gel-synthesized titania films deposited via spray coating. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 81, 346–354 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-016-4134-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-016-4134-9

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