The synthesis of nanometer-sized materials has attracted much attention because of the unique catalytic, magnetic, optical, and electronic properties of such materials. Since the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials are highly dependent on their size, shape, and arrangement, techniques for controlling the nanostructure and organization of materials are highly desirable. Ordered mesoporous materials are potential candidates for fabricating nanomaterials because of their uniform nanopores of various sizes (1.5-30 nm), shapes (cylindrical and cagelike), and arrangements (2D and 3D hexagonal, cubic Pm3 n, cubic Ia3 d, etc). [1][2][3] To date, nanoparticles or nanowires of Pt, [4] Ag, [4d,5] Pd, [4e,6] and Au, [4d,e] using mesoporous powders or thin films. In most cases, the pores were partially filled with materials, and nanoparticles or rods were randomly distributed in mesoporous-silica matrices. Recently, the syntheses of ordered nanoparticle arrays of CdS, [9] Au, [10] and Pt [10] in mesoporous silica films have been reported by independent groups. Fan et al. reported the synthesis of gold nanocrystal/silica mesostructured thin films with a cubic symmetry (Fm3m) via self-assembly of water-soluble nanocrystal micelles with soluble silica.[11] These periodic nanodot arrays in silica thin films could be applied to singleelectron devices mediated by coupling interactions with neighboring nanodots. The ordered lattice and the perfect packing of dots are very important for the 3D array of multitunnel junctions, and it should be possible to control the properties of single-electron devices by changing the pore size and arrangement of the mesoporous silica thin film.Here we present the synthesis of a highly ordered Pt nanodot array of cubic symmetry simply by immersing a mesoporous silica thin film into a Pt-precursor solution followed by photoreduction. Two types of cages of mesoporous thin films have been fully filled with Pt nanoparticles of approximately 4 nm diameter, and an exceptionally ordered cubic-lattice array of nanodots has been obtained.The mesoporous thin films and the Pt-filled mesoporous thin films on silicon wafers were scratched off and placed on Cu grids for high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) measurements. The HRTEM images of both the mesoporous thin films and the Pt-filled thin films are displayed in Figure 1. (Large-area HRTEM images are shown in the Figs. S1 and 2 in the Supporting Information).
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