Vertically aligned porous silica thin films functionalized by nickel chloride incorporated in walls

Abstract

Abstract The article concerns a novel functional material in the form of thin film: vertically aligned mesoporous silica layer precisely functionalized by nickel chloride molecules. The functional units are placed exclusively inside silica walls, where they are chelated by cyclam (1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane) molecules. The synthesis routes, based on a self-assembly approach, resulted in materials with the assumed molecular structure. The microscopic studies of the silica matrices structure confirmed that tetrasilylated cyclam did not perturb the formation of porous silica films. Vibrational spectroscopy showed incorporation of the cyclam inside silica structure. In turn, the EPR spectroscopy confirmed, that nickel dichloride was chelated by cyclam molecules, which resulted in a homogeneous distribution of functional nickel-containing groups.