Tatsuya Okubo1, Sajo P. Naik2, Toshiyuki Yokoi1, Wei Fan1, Yukichi Sasaki3, Ta-Chen Wei4, and Hugh W. Hillhouse4. (1) Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan, (2) Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo and PRESTO-JST, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan, (3) Japan Fine Ceramics Center, 2-4-1 Mutsuno, Atsuta-ku, Nagoya 456-8587, Japan, (4) Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, 480 Stadium Mall Dr, West Lafayette, IN 47907
We have succeeded in the fabrication of distorted cubic R-3m mesoporous silica film with 3 D open mesostructure providing high pore accessibility from the surface-air interface. The film fabrication involves a unique approach of adding 1,3,5- triisopropylbenzene (TIPB) to the silica/cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide (CTAB) coating sol during its preparation. The addition of TIPB induces the formation of spheroid micelle promoting R-3m mesostructure in the film. In the case of fabrication of unsupported monolith, 3D cubic Im3m mesophase is obtained. These phases do not exist in the corresponding binary phase diagram of CTAB surfactant. The influences of the organic additives on the final phases are investigated in details.