Ordered large-pore mesoporous silica film with Im3m symmetry synthesized in ternary copolymer–butanol–water system

Ordered cubic Im3m mesoporous silica film with unusually large-pore (10.7 nm) have been successfully synthesized by using triblock PEO–PPO–PEO copolymer as the structure-directing agent and n-butanol as the swelling agent through dip-coating approach. The obtained materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, surface profilometer, and nitrogen sorption.