Mesoporous Siloxane Films Through Thermal Oxidation of Siloxane–Carbon Nanocomposites

The emerging interest in porous materials in devices and products drives the need for easier and faster synthetic and material processing methods. Mesoporous films presented in this work have been synthesised from precursor nanocomposites of carbonaceous particles in a siloxane matrix deposited via a one-step atmospheric plasma process. After thermal oxidation of these nanocomposites, they became transparent, ceramic, silica-like mesoporous thin films. Characterisation of the materials before and after thermal oxidation via scanning electron microscopy presents an easy way to differentiate between solid and porous coatings. Also, in an extension, this method can be used to differentiate solid particles, core shell structures and hollow particles. New methods presented in this work create possibilities in design and applications of multifunctional porous films, and their structural analysis via electron microscopy.