Micro-Patterned SiO2/TiO2 Films through Photo and Chemical Reactions

A method of producing a patterned silica film, comprising the steps of:

• providing a photosensitive organic-titanium film and a mask, wherein the mask has a pattern of interest;
• applying the mask to the photosensitive organic-titanium film;
• exposing the photosensitive organic-titania film having the mask to photoirradiation to pattern the film;
• removing unexposed organic titanium from the surface of the film, whereby the unexposed organic titania is the titania protected from irraditation due to its positioning underneath the applied mask;
• contacting the patterned titania film with a silicate solution having a pH in the range of about 8 to about 10, whereby silica is absorbed on the surface of the patterned titania film by adherence to the titania on the film thus adopting the pattern of titania on the film;
• and
• removing excess silica from the contacted titania film.

A method of producing a patterned silica film, comprising the steps of:

• providing a patterned titania film;
• contacting the titania film with a silicate solution having a pH in the range of about 8 to about 10, whereby silica is absorbed on the surface of the patterned titania film by adherence to the titania on the film thus adopting the pattern of titania on the film;
• removing excess silica from the contacted titania film;
• and
• derivatizing the silica surface by silylation.