One-pot self-assembly of mesostructured silica films and membranes functionalised with fullerene derivatives

Three fullerene derivatives have been employed with amphiphilic block copolymers both as structure-directing agents and doping molecules in one-pot synthesis of self-assembled 2D-hexagonal and cubic porous silica mesostructures, in the form of bulk materials, thick cast films and thin films through an evaporation-induced self-assembling procedure. Thermal calcination of the samples at 280°C almost completely removed the block copolymer from the silica matrix without substantial loss of the fullerene additive, as demonstrated by FT-Raman spectra in which a clear signature of the fullerene A_g mode at 1467 cm^-1 was still clearly observed. Upon irradiation with laser light at 632.8 nm, the fullerene-doped mesostructured materials exhibited photoluminescence at room temperature, which was not observed in the silica matrix.