Micropatterned monolayer assembly of zeolite microcrystals on glass by ionic linkages

Silver butyrate (C3H7–CO2-Ag+) is readily decarboxylated upon irradiation with UV–vis light. This phenomenon was confirmed by the FT-IR study of silver-butyrate-tethering mesoporous silica (MS/C3H6–CO2-Ag+) particles and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study of silver-butyrate-tethering glass (G/C3H6–CO2-Ag+) plates, before and after irradiation with UV–vis light. Thus, the diffuse-reflectance FT-IR spectra of MS/C3H6–CO2-Ag+ particles showed the presence of two absorption bands at 1560 and 1410 cm−1 arising from silver carboxylate, which disappeared upon irradiation of the sample with UV–vis light. The XPS study of G/C3H6–CO2-Ag+ showed Ag 3d bands at 373.54 and 367.54 eV, which shifted to higher energy regions by 0.2 eV, respectively, upon irradiation of the sample with UV–vis light, due to the transformation of Ag+ to Ag. Consistent with the above, when a photopatterned G/C3H6–CO2-Ag+ plate was allowed to contact with the zeolite microcrystals covalently tethering n  -propyltrimethylammonium iodide (Z–C3H6N(CH3)3+I-, denoted as Z+I−), monolayers of Z+ were assembled only on the areas covered by the photomask. This paper thus demonstrates an efficient method for the micropatterned monolayer assembly of zeolite microcrystals through ionic linkages between zeolite microcrystals and substrates.