Ordered bicontinuous nanoporous and nanorelief ceramic films from serf assembling polymer precursors

Three-dimensional ceramic nanostructured films were produced from silicon-containing triblock copolymer films exhibiting the double gyroid and inverse double gyroid morphologies (space group Ia3d). A one-step room- temperature oxidation process that used ozonolysis and ultraviolet irradiation effected both the selective removal of the hydrocarbon block and the conversion of the silicon-containing block to a silicon oxycarbide ceramic stable to 400 °C. Depending on the relative volume fraction of the hydrocarbon block to the silicon-containing block, either nanoporous or nanorelief structures were fabricated with calculated interfacial areas of ~40 square meters per gram and pore or strut sizes of ~20 nanometers.