Highly ordered platinum nanodot arrays with cubic symmetry in mesoporous thin films

Highly ordered Pt nanodot arrays with cubic symmetry are synthesized by simple immersion of mesoporous silica thin films into a Pt precursor solution followed by photoreduction. Two types of cages of mesoporous thin films have been fully filled with Pt nanoparticles approximately 4 nm in size, and an exceptionally well-ordered cubic lattice array of nanodots has been obtained (see figure).