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Metal Oxide Arrays from Block Copolymer Thin Film Templates Cite this: DOI: 10.1039/x0xx00000x Michael K. Mayeda, a Jeffery Hayat, b Thomas H. Epps, III,*a and Jochen Lauterbach*c Manuscript Received 00th January 2015, Accepted 00th January 2015 We present a simple, though uncommonly used, method to produce versatile, wellordered,

nanoscale arrays of metal oxides such as MgO, Al 2O3, TiO 2, MnO 2, Fe 2O3, Co 3O4, NiO, CuO, DOI: 10.1039/x0xx00000x ZnO, ZrO 2, RuO 2, SnO 2, or Ce 2O3 by decoupling metal oxide precursor incorporation from a www.rsc.org/ block copolymer (BCP) template formation. In this work, neat BCP thin films were cast and annealed, using standard techniques, to generate templates. The templates were immersed in a precursor solution and formed metalpolymer complexes in one polymer domain. Finally, the organics were removed in an oxidative environment to leave the templated metal oxides. As a concrete example of the method’s applicability, we show that the templating method produced

ordered TiO 2 arrays that exhibited a 13% increase in photocatalytic activity over TiO 2 Accepted produced by EISA. Furthermore, the addition of gold nanoparticles further improved

photocatalytic activity by 43% on our templated TiO2, whereas gold nanoparticles on EISA A TiO 2 exhibited no improvement. The simplicity and modularity of the templating method makes it amenable to additional applications in catalysis, optics, and sensors.

BCP templated metal oxide arrays facilitate a variety of Introduction Chemistry exciting applications in magnetic bit patterned media, seed The development of Mobil’s zeolites in the 1960s sparked an mediated nanotube growth, energy harvesting, and avalanche of research on the design of structured materials with heterogeneous catalysis. 1722 The vast majority of previous nanometerscale features (> 1 nm) for applications in catalysis investigations involving BCP templating follow two routes: (1) 1 and separations. Innovative uses of structure directing agents segregating preformed nanoparticles or (2) using in situ solgel can yield nanomaterials with improved catalytic activity. methods. The former approach benefits from advances in Whereas smallmolecule surfactants have proven to be nanoparticle synthesis, which allows researchers to tune particle 2 excellent subnanometer structure directing agents, block size, shape, crystallinity, and composition. 23 Additionally, copolymers (BCPs) offer a macromolecular analog with tunable templating preformed nanoparticles is a convenient route to 3, 4 Materials molecular weights, block choices, and compositions. When ensure that the inorganic material retains the desired properties implemented in thin film environments (< 100 nm in thickness), of interest. Previous work by Epps and coworkers templated

BCPs can serve as ideal organic templates, whose nanostructure presynthesized gold nanoparticles in a poly(styreneb of 510 can be controlled through processing techniques. These isoprenebstyrene) thin film by tuning the particles’ surface films can be used to direct the nanoscale structure of inorganic energies using ligand exchanges. 24 Kramer and coworkers also 11 materials for catalysts, sensors, and optics applications. have investigated gold nanoparticle segregation in poly(styrene 2 Improved ordering of the thin film morphology, to ~cm grain b2 vinyl pyridine) (PSbP2VP) BCPs by manipulating ligand sizes, is important for applications in competition (or in chemistry, density, and molecular weight. 2528 Several reviews concert) with lithography and could be achieved by succinctly describe efforts to incorporate particles with varying implementing complementary techniques that employ composition, size, and shape into BCPs. 2932 In all cases,

8, 1216 Journal topographical patterning or external fields. preformed nanoparticle miscibility and templating generally

This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015 J. Mater. Chem. A ., 2015, 00 , 1-3 | 1 Journal of Materials Chemistry A Page 2 of 9 ARTICLE Journal of Materials Chemistry A were dominated by the particlepolymer entropic (particle size purchased from SigmaAldrich. Titanium(IV) tetraisopropoxide and shape) and enthalpic (ligand chemistry) interactions. (98+%) and poly(acrylic acid) (25 wt% aqueous solution, 1 In situ solgel methods use a sacrificial BCP to arrange = 240 kg mol ) were purchased from Acros Organics. metal salt precursors into nanoscale features and subsequently Aluminum(III) nitrate nonahydrate (98%), cerium(III) nitrate reduce, oxidize, or calcine the composite to simultaneously hexahydrate (REacton®, 99.5%), cobalt(II) nitrate hexahydrate form the templated material and remove the polymer.33, 34 This (ACS reagent), copper(II) nitrate hemipentahydrate (98%), versatile method can be used to create many types of magnesium(II) nitrate hexahydrate (98%), manganese(II) industrially relevant crystals, powders, and films. Within sol nitrate hydrate (99.98%), nickel(II) nitrate hexahydrate (98%), gel techniques, evaporation induced selfassembly (EISA) is a tin(II) chloride dihydrate (ACS reagent), zinc(II) nitrate hydrate popular method for templating inorganic materials. 2 In short, (99%), zirconium(IV) dichloride oxide octahydrate (98%), and the polymer and metal precursor are combined in a single methylene blue (MB) (high purity biological stain) were solution and a thin film is coated onto a substrate. The purchased from Alfa Aesar. ACS grade toluene, evaporation of solvent creates a concentration gradient that acts tetrahydrofuran, ethanol, and 2propanol were purchased from as an ordering front that produces the nanoscale features. BDH. Deionized water was obtained from a Millipore MilliQ Manuscript Features can be tuned by adjusting the polymer molecular Direct 8 system. Hydrochloric acid (37% in water, technical) weight, 35 solgel concentration, 33, 36, 37 and coating procedure. 38 was purchased from Fisher Scientific. Silicon and silicon oxide Researchers have used the EISAtemplating method to produce (500 nm on silicon) wafers were purchased from Wafer World. arrays of gold, cobalt, and cobalt oxide, but ordering remains Both types of wafers were rinsed with toluene, dried with a poor (grain size < 1 µm 2). 3943 Poor ordering was likely due to nitrogen stream, and cleaned in a Jelight Model 42 UVO polymer/metal inter and intramolecular interactions that cleaner for 30 min prior to polymer spincoating. inhibit polymer chain mobility and prevent BCP ordering. 44 To maximize BCP chain mobility, Boyen and coworkers modified Templating procedure the EISA method by complexing Fe and Nb salts with The SPICE method is depicted in Scheme 1. Each of the sub Accepted homopolymer P2VP (h2PVP) prior to blending with the PSb processes are explained in detail; however, it should be noted P2VP solution. 45 Thin films of salt/h2VP/PSbP2VP produced that subprocesses can be substituted (e.g., thermal annealing A wellordered arrays with ≈ 1 µm 2 grain sizes. However, this instead of solvent vapor annealing, dipcoating instead of modification to the traditional EISA method was limited to spincoating, calcination instead of ozone etching, etc .). metal loading ratios of mol metal :mol 2VPmonomer ≤ 0.2 to avoid SPINCOATING FILMS : Films were made using a Laurell WS400 macrophase separation. On the other hand, Russell and co 6NPPLite spincoater. Toluene solutions of PSbPEO (1 wt%) workers employed a preformed BCP template to create well were stirred for 1 h and subsequently syringe filtered (0.2 µm, ordered Au/Ag arrays for surface plasmon resonance studies. 46 PTFE) prior to film casting. Approximately 40 µL of solution Although the method was proven, 47 researchers have yet to use were quickly syringed onto substrates spinning at 3000 RPM it for catalysis applications. for 30 s. Films were further dried under nitrogen. Using a We use the preformed BCP template method, hereafter Filmetrics F20 instrument, thicknesses of ascast films were referred to as spincoatpatternimmersecomplexetch (SPICE) analyzed on silicon wafers. Further processing (detailed below) to produce thin films of wellordered arrays that were otherwise was carried out for films deposited on silicon oxide wafers. Chemistry difficult to achieve via the EISA/dipcoating approach. We PATTERN FORMATION : Perpendicularlyoriented hexagonally build upon previous investigations 46, 47 by creating wellordered array patterns of PEO domains in a PS matrix were made by hexagonally packed arrays of MgO, Al 2O3, TiO 2, MnO 2, Fe 2O3, solvent annealing PSbPEO films with toluene/water in a high 48 Co 3O4, NiO, CuO, ZnO, ZrO 2, RuO 2, SnO 2, and Ce 2O3. humidity chamber. Films were placed in a bell jar with a Furthermore, we demonstrate an improvement in photocatalytic beaker of 4 mL of toluene. The bell jar was positioned within a activity of SPICE TiO 2 and Au/TiO 2 over EISA TiO 2. In high humidity chamber. Humidity was controlled by bubbling addition to photocatalysis, we anticipate this method will be nitrogen through deionized water that was maintained at 60 ˚C. critical to developing advanced materials for sensors, After exposure to saturated toluene vapor at room temperature environmental catalysis, and lithography applications. for 18 h, the bell jar was opened to simultaneously allow Materials toluene evaporation and humidity exposure. Films were exposed to the high humidity environment for 15 min before

Experimental of being removed from the chamber. It should be noted that Materials although arrays of perpendicular PEO domains were achieved All materials were used as received. Poly(styrenebethylene by toluene solvent annealing alone, the addition of high 1 humidity (>90% RH) increased grain sizes from less than 1 oxide) (PSbPEO; Ð = 1.04, , = 16 kg mol , 1 µm 2 to greater than 4 µm 2. , = 5 kg mol ) was purchased from Polymer Source, Inc. Iron(III) nitrate nonahydrate (ACS reagent) was Journal

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IMMERSION AND METAL COMPLEXATION : Table S1 polymer removal to enhance the photocatalytic degradation of (Supplemental Information) details the processing conditions MB. AuNPs were synthesized according to the BrustSchiffrin for each metal oxide sample. For Mg, Al, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, method. 49 AuNPs (3.5 ± 1.0 nm diameter) were stabilized in Zn, Sn, Ru, or Ce, a 1.0 M precursor in ethanol solution was toluene solutions with dodecanethiol. 24 prepared. For Zr solutions, 0.5 M solutions in ethanol/water (equal volume) were mixed to adequately dissolve the Film characterization precursor. For Ti solutions, 0.25 g HCl solution, 0.7 g titanium Atomic force (AFM) images were recorded with a tetraisopropoxide, and 5 mL 2propanol were stirred for 30 Bruker Multimode Nanoscope V system. AppNano ACL tips Chemistry min. All annealed PSbPEO films were immersed in a (190 kHz resonant frequency, 58 N m 1 spring constant) were precursor solution for 15 min. Immersion allowed the metal used in tapping mode. Image processing and FFTs of ions to selectively complex with the PEO domains. After micrographs were performed with ImageJ. submerging the BCP film in the precursor solution, excess XRay photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements precursor solution was removed by rinsing with 2propanol and were performed on a Kratos Axis Ultra DLD instrument drying in a nitrogen stream. equipped with a monochromated Al Kα Xray source and a EISA TIO2: For comparison purposes, a film was made using hemispherical analyzer. All analyzed metal oxide arrays were the EISA method. After stirring, 0.2 mL of the titania solution deposited on silicon oxide wafers. Binding energies were was combined with 0.8 mL of the PSbPEO toluene solution (1 calibrated using Si 2p at 103.3 eV. wt%), and a film was spincoated as previously described. Cast Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images were Materials films were annealed in saturated toluene vapor (2 h) without taken with a Hitachi H8000 operated at 150 kV. PSbPEO

water, which would have undesirably hydrolyzed the titanium films containing titania precursor were peeled and mounted of precursor. onto copper mesh grids according to a method previously 50 ETCHING TEMPLATE : For all films, template etching and metal described in the literature. The composite film was prepared oxidation were simultaneously achieved using a UVO cleaner for peeling by depositing a thin layer of carbon (< 10 nm) using for 30 min. Residual carbon was removed by rinsing with a Hitachi carbon evaporator. A droplet (< 1 mL) of 25 wt% toluene and drying under a dry nitrogen stream. poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) was dropcast and allowed to dry GOLD NANOPARTICLE ADDITION : To demonstrate additional overnight at atmospheric conditions. A razor blade was used to modularity of SPICE, gold nanoparticles (AuNP) were remove the resulting solid, which adhered to the polymer

spincoated onto the SPICE and EISAtemplated TiO 2 after composite film. The PAA was dissolved in a large volume of Journal

This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015 J. Mater. Chem. A , 2015, 00 , 1-3 | 3 Journal of Materials Chemistry A Page 4 of 9 ARTICLE Journal of Materials Chemistry A water. The resulting floating films were mounted onto copper Results and discussion mesh grids or silicon nitride membrane window grids and In heterogeneous catalysis, ordered and narrowly disperse allowed to air dry for 15 min before imaging. features made by bottomup processes are critical for Photocatalysis experiments applications requiring maximum active surface area. Thus, grain size and narrow structural dispersity inherent in BCP We demonstrate the SPICE method through the improved films is an important aspect of the SPICE method. In our case, photocatalytic degradation of MB, which is an industrial 20 perpendicularlyoriented and hexagonallypacked domains of pollutant commonly found in textile waste streams. In this 5 PEO cylinders in PSbPEO films (30 nm thick) were obtained work, an aqueous solution of 1×10 M MB was stirred for 2 by toluene vapor annealing in a highhumidity chamber, as days and then stored in a dark environment for later use. Wafer 48 2 depicted in Scheme 1. fragments (~2 cm ) and 3.3 mL of MB solution were placed in The average radius of the PEO domains in a toluene/water Brandtech (220900 nm transparency). The surface annealed neat polymer film was 8.7 ± 0.8 nm (>2500 areas of the samples were hard to measure when the wafer

measurements) (Fig. 1b). The inset fast Fourier transform (FFT) Manuscript fragments were irregularly shaped. Therefore, degradation rates exhibits 4th order peaks, which corroborate the excellent order were normalized by the weights of the wafer fragments. and large grain sizes achieved by highhumidity annealing. Irradiation was accomplished with a ScienceTech SF300A solar Grain sizes of toluene/water vapor annealed PSbPEO films simulator coupled with a ScienceTech 500300 power supply were greater than 4 m 2. The PSbPEO films were used to (350W average output). Wafer fragments were removed from template SPICE TiO (Fig. 1d) and Au on SPICE TiO (Fig. 1e) the cuvettes prior to UVvis measurements, which were 2 2 samples. On the other hand, films that were annealed by only recorded with a Shimadzu UV2450 instrument. The 665 nm toluene or tetrahydrofuran vapor contained grains that were less peak was monitored during timelapse studies; peak area than 1 m 2 (Fig. 1a). Subsequently templated TiO exhibited integrations from 550740 nm were calculated. Photocatalytic 2 large size distributions and poor order (Fig. 1c). These results experiments were reproduced three times for each sample. highlighted the importance of using highhumidity during the Accepted A Chemistry Materials of Journal

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annealing step. toluene vapor was used to anneal EISA films. Despite, our best Some metal precursors, such as the titanium alkoxide and efforts to anneal the EISA composite with toluene vapor, the tin chloride used in this study, are susceptible to hydrolysis and resulting titania were poorly ordered and disperse in diameter cannot be processed in humid or aqueous environments. 51 By (Fig. 2b). On the other hand, the SPICE method allowed the use separating template formation and metal precursor inclusion of highhumidity annealing conditions and produced highly into two decoupled steps, the SPICE method can take ordered PEO domains, which preferentially absorbed the titania advantage of annealing techniques (using high humidity in this precursor ( Fig. 2c). TEM images illustrate the improvement in case) that otherwise would be precluded by the presence of the order and dispersity of the SPICE method. metal precursor. To further extend this idea, the authors envision bolstering the SPICE method with supplementary annealing techniques that employ external fields, shear fields, or patterned substrates. Achieving wafersized areas of templated material is industrially relevant for magnetic storage media and energy harvesting. 52, 53 Manuscript Metal oxides were templated into the annealed PSbPEO films by a simple immersion process. BCP films were submerged in a metal precursor solution to allow the metal ions to selectively complex with the ethylene oxide monomer units. A typical loading ratio of 0.38 was achieved, which is almost twice that achieved by Boyen and coworkers (calculations are available in Electronic Supporting Information). 45 Metal oxide formation and polymer removal were simultaneously achieved using an ultraviolet ozone (UVO) oven. The versatility of the Accepted SPICE procedure was exemplified by templating commonly used metal oxides: MgO, Al O , TiO , MnO , Fe O , Co O ,

2 3 2 2 2 3 3 4 A NiO, CuO, ZnO, ZrO 2, RuO 2, SnO 2, and Ce 2O3. Empirical formulas for the metal oxides were determined using high resolution Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) scans to identify the oxidation states of the metals. 54 Fig. 1ae show AFM images of selected metal oxide arrays as well as corresponding FFTs in the insets. Height images of the remaining metal oxides (Figure S1) and XPS peak positions of all metal oxides (Table S2) can be found in the Supporting Information. Hexagonallypacked metal oxide dots are noted in Fig. 1b, Fig. 1d, Fig. 1e, and Figure S1; all corresponding FFTs reveal reflections that are characteristic of hexagonal packing. Chemistry nd 2 order reflections are noted for Co 3O4, Fe 2O3, MgO, MnO 2, ZnO, SnO 2 and TiO 2 samples. After polymer removal, the height of the templated materials ranged between 17 nm. For

TiO , a 30 nm thick BCP film template produced an average 2 Fig. 2 Transmission electron micrograph of (a) EISA (Ti precursor) films after oxide dot height of 5.4 ± 1.4 nm. The height reduction was annealing with toluene/water vapor and (b) toluene vapor as compared to a (c) attributed to the significant mass loss during polymer template SPICE Ti precursor film. Images are unstained; contrast is afforded by the removal and was used to calculate the average oxide loading. electron density difference between PEOtitanium complex (dark) and PS (light). The scale bars represent 100 nm. The average radius of a templated dot was 8.5 ± 1.9 nm, which

closely matches the initial PEO domain size after solvent Materials The EISA method produced an average TiO 2 dot radius of 9.8 ± annealing (8.7 ± 0.8 nm). 46 The similarity in PEO domain size 4.4 nm. Decreased morphology control was evidenced by the and the SPICE dot size suggests that templated metal oxide size line scan in Fig. 1f, AFM image (Fig. 1c), and TEM image of can be controlled by tuning the polymer molecular weight and (Fig. 2b). Dispersion calculations are available in Supporting volume fraction. 55 Highly ordered PSbPEO films led to highly Information. The FFT of EISA micrographs showed no spots or ordered metal oxide dots, supporting the efficacy and simplicity rings, indicating the absence of any significant ordering. Poor of the SPICE templating method. ordering of annealed EISA films was attributed to hydrolytic The EISAtemplating method was applied to the same oligomerization of titania and reduced polymer chain mobility polymer and titania precursor solution for the purpose of caused by coordination bonds between the titania precursor and comparison. Because the titania precursor was highly sensitive 37, 56 PEO domains. Huh and coworkers studied the effect of Cd

to water, toluene/water solvent vapor undesirably hydrolyzed Journal coordination with poly( 4vinylpyridine) (P4VP) and found that the titania precursor in the EISA film ( Fig. 2a). Thus, only

This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015 J. Mater. Chem. A , 2015, 00 , 1-3 | 5 Journal of Materials Chemistry A Page 6 of 9 ARTICLE Journal of Materials Chemistry A increasing the salt loading increased gelation and decreased The first order rate constants ( k) were determined by fitting ordering of their Cd/PSbP4VP system. 44 Similarly, it is linear regressions of the MB concentrations as a function of expected that PEOmetal complexes hinder polymer chain irradiation time as shown in Fig. 3. The reaction rate constants mobility during solvent vapor annealing. By decoupling the followed ⁄ / = polymerordering from the metalcoordinating, the SPICE and are listed in Table 1. method produced narrow size distributions and highly ordered Table 1 Photocatalytic conditions and rate constants arrays. It has been established that Au or Ag nanoparticles can be Sample Light Catalyst Rate constant a (×10 3 min 1) 5759 Dark no N/A 0.2 used to improve the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO 2. As a Blank yes N/A 1.1 further validation of our synthesis approach, a toluene solution EISA yes TiO 2 2.3 of gold nanoparticles (3.5 ± 1.0 nm diameter) was spincoated Au/EISA yes Au/TiO 2 2.3 onto SPICE and EISAtemplated TiO 2. The resulting Au/TiO 2 SPICE yes TiO 2 2.6 catalysts contained approximately 5 mol% Au as determined by Au/SPICE yes Au/TiO 2 3.3

a Manuscript XPS survey scans (not shown). SPICEtemplated TiO 2 arrays Error values for the rate constants are given by the magnitude of the maintained their high degree of ordering and dispersity after Au Dark rate constant. addition (Fig. 1e). The value of was attributed to instrumental drift and was used as the error associated with the rate constants. SPICE

TiO 2 showed a 13% increase in photocatalytic activity over EISA TiO 2 during MB degradation experiments. The addition of AuNPs to the SPICE TiO 2 samples (Au/TiO 2) further improved the photocatalytic activity by 43%. AuNPs did not

improve the catalytic activity of the EISA TiO 2. Photocatalytic activity has been shown to depend on Accepted catalyst crystallinity, surface hydroxyl concentration, and

surface area. 60 Because the EISA and SPICE methods share the A same materials and polymer removal process, it is expected that crystallinity and surface hydroxyl groups remain similar. Both SPICE and EISA processes were carried out at room temperature except for the UVO treatment, which remained below 60 °C. Therefore, the anatase phase is expected for both synthetic processes. 61 The improvement in photocatalytic efficiency was attributed to increased surface area, as the

SPICEtemplated TiO 2 surface area was increased by minimizing the TiO 2 size distribution (Figure S3). Exposed

Fig. 3 Plot of the natural log of MB concentrations against irradiation time. Error surface area was estimated to be 25% larger for SPICE TiO 2 Chemistry bars on data points represent standard deviations of the mean across three over EISA TiO 2; uncertainty in the measurement stems from reproducibility studies. The slopes represent rate constants ( k), which are the variations in EISA dot sizes. In addition to an improvement reported in Table 1. The value of kDark was taken to be the error on the rate constants. over EISA TiO 2, our experiments demonstrated a 27% activity gain between SPICE Au/TiO 2 over SPICE TiO 2. On the other Photocatalytic studies were used to demonstrate the increased hand, our EISA Au/TiO 2 exhibited no improvement over EISA activity of SPICE TiO 2 compared to EISA TiO 2. Aqueous TiO 2. Numerous previous studies have demonstrated solutions of MB were photocatalyzed, under irradiation, with improvements to EISA TiO 2 photocatalysts by adding metal

EISA TiO 2, SPICE TiO 2, and SPICEtemplated and EISA nanoparticles. Catalysts were optimized by changes in synthetic techniques and metal type and loading. In some cases, AuNP templated TiO 2 coated with gold nanoparticles (Fig. 3). Materials 57, 62 Cuvettes with no catalyst (Blank) and MB stored in the dark addition caused losses in photocatalytic activity. Amongst (Dark) were used as controls. More specifically, the Blank our experiments, the simple addition of AuNPs to EISA TiO 2 indicates how much MB degradation occurs due to yielded no change, which indicated that optimization was of irradiation alone. UVvis spectra were collected every two required. On the other hand, AuNPs that were simply hours, and peak areas were integrated between 550740 nm spincoated onto the SPICE TiO 2 yielded an improvement of (Figure S2). MB photodegradation was presumed to follow first 27%. The improvement in efficiency indicates that the SPICE 20 order kinetics as indicated by the following expression: TiO 2 can be more easily optimized and augmented than EISA 58, 59 TiO 2. = MB . (1) Conclusions Journal

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In conclusion, the SPICE templating method (spincoatpattern 4. F. S. Bates and G. H. Fredrickson, Phys. Today , 1999, 52 , 3238. immersioncomplexetch) was used to produce arrays of a 5. M. Rawolle, M. A. Niedermeier, G. Kaune, J. Perlich, P. Lellig, M. variety of metal oxides. The method decoupled metalPEO Memesa, Y. J. Cheng, J. S. Gutmann and P. Muller complexation from BCP ordering and thus enabled both exceptionally wellordered arrays and simple solgel Buschbaum, Chemical Society Reviews , 2012, 41 , 51315142. templating. A variety of metal oxides were templated; all 6. K. Koo, H. Ahn, S.W. Kim, D. Y. Ryu and T. P. Russell, Soft exhibited the same high degree of ordering as their sacrificial Matter , 2013, 9, 90599071. BCP thin film template. In particular, TiO 2 arrays exhibited a 7. C. Sinturel, M. Vayer, M. Morris and M. A. Hillmyer, high degree of ordering and narrow size dispersion, which Macromolecules , 2013, 46 , 53995415. could not be achieved using standard EISA methods. Finally, 8. M. Luo and T. H. Epps III, Macromolecules , 2013, 46 , 75677579. MB photodegradation studies showed that the SPICE TiO 2 (1) showed a 13% increase in photocatalytic activity over EISA 9. J. N. L. Albert, W. S. Young, R. L. Lewis, T. D. Bogart, J. R. Smith and T. H. Epps III, ACS Nano , 2012, 6, 459466. TiO 2 and (2) could be augmented easily with gold nanoparticles to further improve photocatalytic activity by 27%, whereas the 10. J. E. Seppala, R. L. Lewis and T. H. Epps III, ACS Nano , 2012, 6, EISA Au/TiO 2 showed no such improvements. The SPICE 98559862. method opens exciting pathways for thin films of ordered metal 11. R. A. Segalman, Mater. Sci. Eng., R , 2005, 48 , 191226. Manuscript oxides in sensors, magnetic bit storage media, and energy 12. C. Park, J. Yoon and E. L. Thomas, Polymer , 2003, 44 , 67256760. harvesting. 13. C. M. Bates, M. J. Maher, D. W. Janes, C. J. Ellison and C. G. Willson, Macromolecules , 2014, 47 , 212. Acknowledgements 14. D. J. C. Herr, J. Mater. Res. , 2011, 26 , 122139. This work was partially supported by the National Science 15. D. E. Angelescu, J. H. Waller, D. H. Adamson, P. Deshpande, S. Y. Foundation (NSF) through DMR1207041 to T.H.E. and the Chou, R. A. Register and P. M. Chaikin, Adv. Mater. , 2004, South Carolina SmartState™ center for Strategic Approaches to 16 , 17361740. the Generation of Electricity (SAGE). M.K.M. thanks the NSF 16. S. O. Kim, H. H. Solak, M. P. Stoykovich, N. J. Ferrier, J. J. de Pablo and P. F. Nealey, Nature , 2003, 424 , 411414. Solar Hydrogen IGERT Program (no. DGE0549399) for Accepted funding. J.H. acknowledges the Global Research Collaboration 17. X. Quan, S. Yang, X. Ruan and H. Zhao, Environ. Sci. Technol. , 2005, 39 , 37703775. Program of Semiconductor Research Corporation (Task ID A 2222.001). We acknowledge Prof. Chuanbing Tang for use of 18. H. F. Zhuang, C. J. Lin, Y. K. Lai, L. Sun and J. Li, Environ. Sci. the atomic force and Prof. Miao Yu for use of the Technol. , 2007, 41 , 47354740. solar simulator. 19. Y. Li, T. Sasaki, Y. Shimizu and N. Koshizaki, J. Am. Chem. Soc. , 2008, 130 , 1475514762. Notes 20. A. Houas, H. Lachheb, M. Ksibi, E. Elaloui, C. Guillard and J.M. Herrmann, Appl. Catal., B , 2001, 31 , 145157. a Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of 21. A. Syoufian and K. Nakashima, J. Colloid Interface Sci. , 2008, 317 , Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA 507512. b Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of South 22. H. Acharya, J. Sung, I. Bae, T. Kim, D. H. Kim and C. Park, Chem. Carolina, Columbia, SC 29201, USA Eur. J. , 2012, 18 , 1469514701.

c Chemistry Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, 23. M. C. Daniel and D. Astruc, Chem. Rev. , 2004, 104 , 293346. Columbia, SC 29201 USA 24. M. K. Mayeda, W.F. Kuan, W.S. Young, J. A. Lauterbach and T. H. Epps III, Chem. Mater. , 2012, 24 , 26272634. Email: [email protected]. Tel.: +1 302 831 0215. Fax: +1 302 831 1048 25. B. J. Kim, J. Bang, C. J. Hawker, J. J. Chiu, D. J. Pine, S. G. Jang, S. Email: [email protected]. Tel.: +1 803 777 7904. Fax: +1 803 777 M. Yang and E. J. Kramer, Langmuir , 2007, 23 , 1269312703. 8292 26. B. J. Kim, G. H. Fredrickson and E. J. Kramer, Macromolecules , 2007, 41 , 436447. Electronic Supplementary Information (ESI) available: AFM images of 27. J. J. Chiu, B. J. Kim, E. J. Kramer and D. J. Pine, J. Am. Chem. Soc. , MgO, Al 2O3, MnO 2, Co 3O4, NiO, CuO, ZnO, ZrO 2, RuO 2, SnO 2, and 2005, 127 , 50365037.

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