Sol-gel derived macroporous titania films prepared from the system containing poly(ethylene glycol) together with long-chain alcohols

The effect of alcohol-type on macroscopic morphology has been examined for the macroporous titania (TIO(2)) films prepared by a sol-gel dip-coating method from the system containing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and alcohols having larger alkyl groups than ethanol. The phase separation is enhanced by decreasing the compatibility between the solvent mixture and PEG as long as the polycondensation rate does not increase greatly. In the 1-butanol system, macroporous morphology appears clearly even at higher relative humidity as 70% RH due to the slower polycondensation. In contrast, the macroscopic domain formation is completely suppressed by the rapid polycondensation in the 2-propanol system.