Synthesis of Arrayed, TiO
2
Needlelike Nanostructures
via a Polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) Diblock
Copolymer Template
Chin-Cheng Weng, Kuo-Feng Hsu, and Kung-Hwa Wei*
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University,
Hsinchu, Taiwan 30049, Republic of China
Received April 19, 2004. Revised Manuscript Received August 10, 2004
Arrayed, needlelike nanostructures of rutile phase crystal TiO
2
were grown on a Si
substrate containing TiO
2
seeds prepared through a thin polystyrene-b-poly(4-vinylpyridine)
(PS-b-P4VP) diblock copolymer template. The morphology of the deposited TiO
2
nanostruc-
tures was characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction,
and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). By using TiO
2
seeds prepared from their diblock
copolymer PS-b-P4VP template, we fabricated arrayed, needlelike rutile TiO
2
nanostructures
with variable spatial positions and densities. The distance between two TiO
2
needle bunches
(120 and 160 nm) could be controlled using block copolymer templates with different
molecular weights.
Introduction
Titanium dioxide (TiO
2
) is a highly versatile material,
because of the optical and catalytic properties exhibited
by its two common crystal forms: rutile and anatase.
The rutile phase of TiO
2
has a high refractive index and
is useful for optical devices, such as waveguides.
1
The
photocatalytic activity of the anatase phase of TiO
2
is
widely applied in many fields, such as microorganism
photolysis,
2
medical treatment,
3
environmental purifica-
tion,
4
and photovoltaic cells.
5,6
More recently, ordered
nanostructures have been prepared using templating
techniques. For example, ordered TiO
2
nanotubes were
synthesized using porous anodic alumina as tem-
plates via a sol-gel process.
7-12
TiO
2
nanowire arrays
have also been synthesized using an electrochemical
method.
13
On the other hand, the fabrication of periodically
ordered two-dimensional nanostructures on the scale of
tens to hundreds of nanometers is critically important
as electronic, optical, and magnetic devices are continu-
ally miniaturized. Attempts have been taken to arrange
nanomaterials, such as semiconductor nanocrystals, as
well as metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, into
ordered structures for device applications.
14-17
A diblock
copolymer chain consists of two chemically dissimilar
blocks attached through a covalent bond. These diblock
copolymers can microphase separate into various or-
dered nanostructures with periodic thicknesses between
10 and 100 nm.
18
Thin films of diblock copolymers can
therefore be used as lithographic templates to produce
highly dense nanostructures
19-22
or as nanoreactors for
the synthesis of nanocrystal clusters with spatial
control.
23-27
Quasi-regular arrays of Au clusters,
23,24
Co
and Fe arrays,
25
and self-assembly of both Au and Fe
2
O
3
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Telephone: 886-
35-731871. Fax: 886-35-724727. E-mail: khwei@cc.nctu.edu.tw.
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Published on Web 09/25/2004