Investigation of templated mesoporous silicate thin films using high speed, solid-state 1H MAS and double quantum NMR Spectroscopy

Two-dimensional DQ H-1 MAS NMR has been used the investigate the local structure of a surfactant-templated silicate thin film prepared from adding 4% polyoxyethylene(10) cetyl ether to an acidic TEOS silica sol. A close spatial contact between the surfactant and the silicate present in these materials could be demonstrated, while the high sensitivity of the NMR experiments allowed systems with limited amounts of material to be investigated. The detected inorganic-organic interactions in these materials provide additional information into the chemical processes occurring during the self-assembly process and the formation of meso-structured materials.