Synthesis of highly ordered mesoporous silica thin films for nano-fabrication of platinum nanodot arrays

Mesoporous silica thin films with highly ordered cubic Pm-3n and three dimensional hexagonal P6₃/mmc symmetries were synthesized by evaporation induced self assembly (EISA) method controlling the ratio of HCl and tetramethoxysilane in the initial sol solution and the humidity in the dip-coating chamber. Using these optimized mesoporous silica thin films, highly ordered Pt nanodot arrays with cubic and three dimensional hexagonal symmetries were synthesized by simple immersion in a Pt precursor solution and photoreduction. These periodic nanodot arrays in the silica thin film have a potential to be applied to single-electron devices mediated by coupling interactions with neighboring nanodots.