A new strategy to incorporate highly dispersed nanoparticles into the pore channels of mesoporous silica thin films

Highly dispersed and uniform Fe₂O₃ semiconductor and palladium metallic nanoparticles have been incorporated into the pore channels of SBA-15 mesoporous thin films (MTFs) through a newly developed strategy, in which molecular assembly template was employed as a hydrophobic carrier to provide the compatible environment for the hydrophobic compounds. The guest nanoparticles were strictly confined inside the pore channels of host MTFs due to the molecular level dissolution of the precursor compounds into the hydrophobic core of the surfactant template micelles. X-ray diffraction characterization indicated this method was effective to induce the guest compounds into the hydrophobic region. The synthesized Fe₂O ₃ semiconductor nanoparticles have an obvious bandgap blue shift phenomenon from UV-vis absorption spectra, which is attributed to the confined effect of MTFs and host-guest interactions. The Pd nanoparticles have a narrow size distribution with the diameter in the size range of 3.5-4.5 nm through transmission electron microscope observations.