Mesoporous Metal Oxide Films

Emmanuel Topoglidis

doi:10.3390/coatings10070668

Abstract

Great progress has been made in the preparation and application of mesoporous metal oxide films and materials during the last three decades. Numerous preparation methods and applications of these novel and interesting materials have been reported, and it was demonstrated that mesoporosity has a direct impact on the properties and potential applications of such materials. This Special Issue of Coatings contains a series of ten research articles demonstrating emphatically that various metal oxide materials could be prepared using a number of different methods, and focuses on many areas where these mesoporous materials could be used, such as sensors, solar cells, supercapacitors, photoelectrodes, anti-corrosion agents and bioceramics. Our aim is to present important developments in this fast-moving field, from various groups around the world.

Highlights

Porous materials have been widely investigated and applied in many fields owing to their outstanding structural properties
According to the definition of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), porous materials can be categorized into three types: microporous materials, mesoporous materials (2–50 nm) and macroporous materials
In the past two decades, great progress has been made in the aspects of fabrication and application of mesoporous metal oxides [1,2,3]

Summary

Introduction

Porous materials have been widely investigated and applied in many fields owing to their outstanding structural properties. Mesoporous metal oxide films exhibit excellent physicochemical properties, such as large band gap, large surface area, controllable pore size and morphology, good thermal and chemical stabilities, unique optical and electrical properties, non-toxicity and low costs. The methods that have been used for the preparation of such metal oxide films include sol-gel screen printing, dip coating, spin coating, sputtering spray pyrolysis, atomic layer deposition, electrodeposition and anodic oxidation.

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