Predicting sizes of hexagonal and gyroid metal nanostructures from liquid crystal templating

Asghar, K. A., Rowlands, D. A., Elliott, J. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7469-4154 and Squires, A. M. (2015) Predicting sizes of hexagonal and gyroid metal nanostructures from liquid crystal templating. ACS Nano, 9 (11). pp. 10970-10978. ISSN 1936-086X doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5b04176

Abstract/Summary

We describe a method to predict and control the lattice parameters of hexagonal and gyroid mesoporous materials formed by liquid crystal templating. In the first part, we describe a geometric model with which the lattice parameters of different liquid crystal mesophases can be predicted as a function of their water/surfactant/oil volume fractions, based on certain geometric parameters relating to the constituent surfactant molecules. We demonstrate the application of this model to the lamellar (LR), hexagonal (H1), and gyroid bicontinuous cubic (V1) mesophases formed by the binary Brij-56 (C16EO10)/water system and the ternary Brij-56/hexadecane/water system. In this way, we demonstrate predictable and independent control over the size of the cylinders (with hexadecane) and their spacing (with water). In the second part, we produce mesoporous platinum using as templates hexagonal and gyroid phases with different compositions and show that in each case the symmetry and lattice parameter of the metal nanostructure faithfully replicate those of the liquid crystal template, which is itself in agreement with the model. This demonstrates a rational control over the geometry, size, and spacing of pores in a mesoporous metal.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/46789
Identification Number/DOI	10.1021/acsnano.5b04176
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Chemical Analysis Facility (CAF) Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry
Publisher	American Chemical Society
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