Abstract

The aim of the Thesis is to understand nanoporous systems, learn to control their design, and to explore potential functionality. It is aimed to show that such systems can serve as host matrixes for incorporation of conducting materials at the nanometer scale. By designing nanoporous host structures we are trying to manipulate the growth process and the properties of the embedded conductive nanostructures. The focus is on liquid-crystal templated silica-based mesoporous materials prepared under different sol-gel synthetic conditions and characterized by a variety of physico-chemical methods. Morphologies include bulk materials and thin mesoporous films on different substrates; the latter may offer potential as components for the construction of molecular electronic devices. It was aimed to gain knowledge of the physico-chemical characteristics of the mesoporous solids and to access differences in their bulk and surface properties that can be essential for further functionalization and modification. The encapsulation of conductive nanostructures in ordered mesoporous hosts is exemplified with several distinct cases by developing new synthetic methods for selective confinement of the guest structures. Namely, carbon filaments and nanotubes, metal nanowires and nanoarrays, and semiconducting nanoparticles and wires are prepared in the mesoporous systems by selective functionalization of the host matrix followed by restricted growth in the nanosized porous system. The analytic techniques that were used during the PhD work include transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, IR and Raman spectroscopy, 29Si and 13C NMR spectroscopy, N2 sorption and X-ray diffraction as well as techniques typical for the characterization of thin layers such as grazing-incident diffraction, atomic force microscopy and quartz crystal microbalance devices.