Highly crystalline cubic mesoporous TiO2 with 10-nm pore diameter made with a new block copolymer template

A strategy is shown to fabricate highly organized mesoporous anatase films exhibiting favorable properties for photocatalysis and photovoltaic applications by the hydrolysis/condensation of TiCl4 in the presence of PHB-PEO block copolymer templates. Dipcoating for evaporation-induced-self-assembly followed by a straight thermal treatment was employed. The evaporation/structuration process and the thermal treatment were mechanistically followed by in situ GISAXSIWAXS measurements, and the final product was carefully analyzed by spectroscopic ellipsometry and transmission electron microscopy to reveal the consequences of crystallization onto the micro-, the meso-, and the macroscale.