Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Mesostructured silica/diblock films with a 3D arrangement of spherical domains (bcc) were prepared through evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) using polystyrene-blockpoly( ethylene oxide) diblock copolymers as structure-directing agents and TEOS (Si(OCH2CH3)4) and/or MTES (Si(OCH2CH3)3CH3) as silica precursors. A detailed small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis of the calcined mesoporous films showed that, in contrast to recently reported studies, no additional microporosity due to the PEO was observed, indicating that the PEO block formed a layer at the interface between the PS domain and the silica matrix and thus contributed to the mesopore volume. These mesostructured porous silica films are believed to be the first in respect of isolated spheres with a 3D array distributed in a silica matrix without additional microporosity and with MTES as silica precursor. Such closed-cell mesostructured porous materials with high porosity and controllable hydrophobicity can be excellent candidates for low dielectric (K) insulator materials.