Prototyping of patterned functional nanostructures

1. A film comprising:

a layer having hydrophilic and hydrophobic patterns on a substrate; and

a patterned silsequioxane layer substantially deposed exclusively on and contacting the hydrophilic pattern, the patterned silsequioxane layer exhibiting structure and function on at least two length scales made by a film-forming method, said method comprising:

providing at least one coating composition comprising:

TEOS;

a surfactant;

at least one organosilane;

HCl;

water; and

ethanol;

applying said coating composition on the layer having hydrophilic and hydrophobic patterns to form a patterned coating; and

drying said patterned coating to form the patterned silsequioxane film exhibiting structure and function on at least two length scales.

2. The film of claim 1 , wherein said organosilane comprises tridecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrooctylriethyoxysilane.

3. The film of claim 1 , wherein said organosilane comprises mercaptopropyltrimethyoxysilane.

4. The film of claim 1 , wherein said organosilane comprises an aminoorganosilane.

5. The film of claim 1 , wherein said organosilane comprises 3-(2,4-dinitrophenylamino)propyltriethoxysilane.

6. The film of claim 1 , wherein said coating composition further comprises a dye.

7. The film of claim 6 , wherein said dye comprises rhodamine B.

8. The film of claim 1 , wherein said surfactant comprises a cationic surfactant.

9. The film of claim 8 , wherein said cationic surfactant comprises cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide.

10. The film of claim 1 , wherein said surfactant comprises a nonionic surfactant.

11. The film of claim 10 , wherein said nonionic surfactant comprises polyoxyethylene cetyl ether.

12. The film of claim 1 , wherein said surfactant comprises an anionic surfactant.

13. The film of claim 1 , wherein said coating composition is coated on said substrate by dip coating.

14. The film of claim 1 , wherein said coating composition is coated on said substrate by micro-pen lithography.

15. The film of claim 1 , wherein said coating composition is coated on said substrate by ink jet printing.

16. The film of claim 15 , wherein said at least one coating composition comprises a plurality of coating compositions and wherein each of said plurality of coating compositions is stored separately from each other prior to coating each of said plurality of coating compositions on a substrate.

17. The film of claim 1 , wherein providing said coating composition comprises heating an initial composition comprising TEOS, ethanol, water and HCl at a temperature of at least 60° C. for at least 90 minutes.

18. The film of claim 17 , wherein said initial composition contains TEOS, ethanol, water and HCl in the mole ratio of 1:3:7:1:5×10 −5 .

19. The film of claim 17 , wherein providing said coating composition further comprises diluting said initial composition with ethanol to provide an ethanol-diluted composition.

20. The film of claim 19 , wherein said initial composition is diluted with 2 volumes of ethanol for every 1 volume of initial composition.

21. The film of 19 , wherein providing said coating composition further comprises diluting said ethanol-diluted composition with water and HCl to provide an acidic sol.

22. The film of claim 21 , wherein providing said coating composition further comprises adding said at least one organosilane to said acidic sol to form a proto-composition.

23. The film of claim 22 , wherein providing said coating composition further comprises adding said surfactant to said proto-composition to form said coating composition.

24. The film of claim 23 , wherein said surfactant is present in said coating composition at a concentration of 0.04 to 0.23 M.

25. The film of claim 24 , wherein providing said coating composition further comprises adding at least one organic additive to said acid sol.

26. The film of claim 1 , wherein said coating composition comprises Si:ethanol:water:HCl:surfactant:organosilane in a mole ratio of 1:22:5:0.004:0.093-0.31:0.039-0.8.

27. The film of claim 1 , wherein said coating is dried at a temperature of 25° C. to 100° C.

28. The film of claim 1 , further comprising removing substantially all of said surfactant from said film.

29. The film of claim 28 , wherein said surfactant is removed by heating said film at a temperature of at least 300° C.

30. The film of claim 1 , further comprising vapor-treating said film with hexamethyldisilazane.

31. The film of claim 1 , wherein said film is mesoporous.

32. The film of claim 1 , wherein said film has a thickness of 50 nm-1 μm.

33. A film made by a film-forming method, said method comprising:

providing at least one coating composition comprising:

TEOS;

a surfactant;

at least one organosilane;

HCl;

water; and

ethanol;

applying said coating composition on a substrate to form a coating on said substrate; and

drying said coating to form a patterned silsequioxane film, wherein said organosilane comprises aminopropyltnmethoxysilane.

34. The film of claim 33 , wherein said coating composition further comprises a dye coupled to aminopropyltrimethoxysilane.

35. A film made by a film-forming method, said method comprising:

providing at least one coating composition comprising:

TEOS;

a surfactant;

at least one organosilane;

HCl;

water; and

ethanol;

applying said coating composition on a substrate to form a coating on said substrate; and

drying said coating to form a patterned silsequioxane film, wherein said organosilane comprises (H 5 C 2 O) 3 SiCH 2 CH 2 Si(OC 2 H 5 ) 3 .

36. A film made by a film-forming method, said method comprising:

providing at least one coating composition comprising:

TEOS;

a surfactant;

at least one organosilane;

HCl;

water; and

ethanol;

applying said coating composition on a substrate to form a coating on said substrate; and

drying said coating to form a patterned silsequioxane film, wherein said surfactant comprises an anionic surfactant, wherein said anionic surfactant comprises sodium dodecyl sulfate.

37. A film made by a film-forming method, said method comprising:

providing at least one coating composition comprising:

TEOS;

a surfactant;

at least one organosilane;

HCl;

water; and

ethanol;

applying said coating composition on a substrate to form a coating on said substrate; and

drying said coating to form a patterned silsequioxane film, wherein said coating composition comprises Si:ethanol:water:HCl:surfactant:organosilane:organic additive in a mole ratio of 1:22:5:0.004:0.093-0.31:0.039-0.8:2.6×10 −5 .

38. A film made by a film-forming method, said method comprising:

providing at least one coating composition comprising:

TEOS;

a surfactant;

at least one organosilane;

HCl;

water; and

ethanol;

applying said coating composition on a substrate to form a coating on said substrate; and

drying said coating to form a patterned silsequioxane film, wherein said at least one organosilane comprises (H 5 C 2 O) 3 SiCH 2 CH 2 Si(OC 2 H 5 ) 3 and said coating composition comprises Si:EtOH:H 2 O:HCl surfactant in a mole ratio 1:22:5:0.004:(0.054-0.18).