Mesoporous and mesostructured materials for optical applications

Mesostructured and mesoporous materials are emerging as a new class of optical materials. For mesostructured materials (inorganic/surfactant composites), prepared using a one-step synthesis procedure where the inorganic/surfactant/optically active species coassemble, the unique architecture provided by the surfactant-inorganic phase separation allows for higher concentrations compared to traditional sol-gel glasses and protective packaging of uniform three-dimensional arrays of optical species. The corresponding regularly arranged pores found in mesoporous materials (inorganic only) provide a high surface area to better disperse optically active components and allow for rapid diffusion for optical sensor applications. In this review, we discuss recent research results on the techniques used to produce optically functionalized mesostructured and mesoporous materials and the characterization of the final composites.