Breath Figures of Nanoscale Bricks: A Universal Method for Creating Hierarchic Porous Materials from Inorganic Nanoparticles Stabilized with Mussel-Inspired Copolymers

High-performance catalysts and photovoltaics are required for building an environmentally sustainable society. Because catalytic and photovoltaic reactions occur at the interfaces between reactants and surfaces, the chemical, physical, and structural properties of interfaces have been the focus of much research. To improve the performance of these materials further, inorganic porous materials with hierarchic porous architectures have been fabricated. The breath figure technique allows preparing porous films by using water droplets as templates. In this study, a valuable preparation method for hierarchic porous inorganic materials is shown. Hierarchic porous materials are prepared from surface-coated inorganic nanoparticles with amphiphilic copolymers having catechol moieties followed by sintering. Micron-scale pores are prepared by using water droplets as templates, and nanoscale pores are formed between the nanoparticles. The fabrication method allows the preparation of hierarchic porous films from inorganic nanoparticles of various shapes and materials.