Large-pore mesoporous nanocrystalline titania thin films synthesized through evaporation-induced self-assembly

Mesoporous nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films with a large-pore diameter (up to 14 nm), narrow pore-size distribution have been synthesized by using tetrabutyl titanate as the inorganic precursor and triblock copolymer (Pluronic P123) as the structure-directing agent under acidic conditions. The synthetic method is based on the well-documented evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA). The mesopore size of obtained samples can be adjusting by altering the inorganic source/surfactant mass ratio. The resulting materials were characterized by XRD, AFM, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.