title: Template-directed assembly of metal-chalcogenide nanocrystals into ordered mesoporous networks.
abstract: Although great progress in the synthesis of porous networks of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles with highly accessible pore surface and ordered mesoscale pores has been achieved, synthesis of assembled 3D mesostructures of metal-chalcogenide nanocrystals is still challenging. In this work we demonstrate that ordered mesoporous networks, which comprise well-defined interconnected metal sulfide nanocrystals, can be prepared through a polymer-templated oxidative polymerization process. The resulting self-assembled mesostructures that were obtained after solvent extraction of the polymer template impart the unique combination of light-emitting metal chalcogenide nanocrystals, three-dimensional open-pore structure, high surface area, and uniform pores. We show that the pore surface of these materials is active and accessible to incoming molecules, exhibiting high photocatalytic activity and stability, for instance, in oxidation of 1-phenylethanol into acetophenone. We demonstrate through appropriate selection of the synthetic components that this method is general to prepare ordered mesoporous materials from metal chalcogenide nanocrystals with various sizes and compositions.
authors: †Department of Materials Science and Technology, University of Crete, Vassilika Vouton, Heraklion 71003, Crete, Greece.
authors: Ioannis
authors: I
authors: Vamvasakis
authors: ‡Department of Chemistry, Northwester University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
authors: Kota S
authors: KS
authors: Subrahmanyam
authors: ‡Department of Chemistry, Northwester University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.|§Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States.
authors: Mercouri G
authors: MG
authors: Kanatzidis
authors: †Department of Materials Science and Technology, University of Crete, Vassilika Vouton, Heraklion 71003, Crete, Greece.
authors: Gerasimos S
authors: GS
authors: Armatas
keywords: mesoporous semiconductors; metal chalcogenides; nanoparticles; self-assembly