title: The fabrication of TiO2 mesoporous thick films by employing a pre-embedded ZnO nanorods support.
abstract: TiO2 mesoporous films with a thickness more than 2 microm were synthesized through the evaporation-induced self-assembly approach. In order to prevent the formation of cracks due to the strain during the calcination, we employed the ZnO nanorod arrays as a pre-embedded support, which were obtained from an aqueous solution method. The spaces between ZnO nanorods were filled with TiO2 sol-gel by a dip-coater. Then ZnO nanorods embedded in the thick film were eliminated by a wet chemical etching method and the left spaces were refilled by the TiO2 sol-gel. As a result, a dense and thick TiO2 mesoporous film was obtained. The resultant materials were characterized in detail by using small angle X-ray diffraction (SAXRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy methods (TEM).
authors.affiliation: Department of Nano Materials and BK 21 Nano Fusion Technology Division, Pusan National University, Miryang 627-706, South Korea.
authors.forename: Weizhen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Jijun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Se-Jeong
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jea-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yang-Do
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyung-Kook
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yoon-Hwae
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Hwang