Morphology and topography analysis of mesoporous titania templated by micrometric latex sphere arrays

In this work, mesoporous titania is prepared by templating latex sphere arrays with four different sphere diameters at the micrometric scale (ϕ > 1 μm). The mesoporous titania homogeneously covers the latex spheres and substrate, forming a thin coating characterized by N2 adsorption isotherm, small angle X-rays scattering, atomic force, field emission and transmission electronic microscopies. Mesoporous titania has been templated into different shapes such as hollow particles and monoliths according to the amount of sol used to fill the voids of the close packed latex spheres. Titania topography strongly depends on the adsorption of polymeric segments over latex spheres surface, which could be decreased by changing the dimensions of latex spheres (ϕ = 9.5 μm) generating a lamellar architecture. Thus, micrometric latex sphere arrays can be used to achieve new surface patterns for mesoporous materials via a fast and inexpensive chemical route for construction of functional devices in different technological fields such as energy conversion, inclusion chemistry and biomaterials.

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► Morphology and topography of titania are modified by latex sphere.
► Titania monoliths can be produced with a smooth and curved surface.
► Lamellar topography is generated by increase of latex spheres diameter (ϕ > 5 μm).
► Titania templated by latex spheres (ϕ < 5 μm) shows a rough topography.