Mesoporous silica layers with controllable porosity and pore size

Silica layers with controllable porosity and pore size were prepared via a templating approach. The structure of these mesoporous films was examined by porosimetry via ellipsometry and transmission electron microscopy. A design of experiment (DOE) method was used to gather information about the influence of the processing parameters on the final film structure. A model was developed, allowing a precise control of the pore diameters and porosity of the silica coating.