Development of mesoporous sol–gel films for antifingerprint applications on glass

Abstract

Mesoporous films were synthesized by specific sol–gel route, including the use of surfactant molecules acting as templating agent through the evaporation induced self-assembly process. Controlled mesoporosity of the film is obtained by the thermal removal of the templating agent. In this work, the mesostructure of the sol–gel layer is used as reservoir for active enzymatic molecules providing antifingerprint coating. The mesopore size and their configuration were designed to assure a good impregnation by lipases. The coatings were applied on glass. The influence of the deposition process and the composition of the sol–gel on the structure of the mesoporous film was investigated. The film morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and water adsorption/desorption isotherms recorded with a quartz crystal microbalance. The stability of the sol–gel solution was assessed by rheological measurements. The efficiency of the combination of mesoporous film and the enzymatic solution was determined in terms of antifingerprint properties using an artificial sebum.