Synthesis and functionalisation of mesoporous materials for transparent coatings and organic dye adsorptionElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Supplementary text, Fig. S1-S10, and Tables S1-S3, and references. See DOI: 10.1039/c8nj00591e

• Main Authors: Nagappan, Saravanan, Park, Sung Soo, Kim, Bo Kyung, Yoo, Dae-Geon, Jo, Nam-Ju, Lee, Won-Ki, Ha, Chang-Sik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1144-0546; 1369-9261
• DOI: 10.1039/c8nj00591e

Herein, we propose a facile method for the synthesis of functionalised mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) via the polymerisation of N -isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) monomer with vinyl functional mesoporous silica nanoparticles (VMSN). The structural and functional properties of the materials are analysed using various characterisation techniques. Additionally, a transparent hydrophobic glass substrate is fabricated by dispersing a certain amount of the synthesised nanoparticles in ethyl acetate (EA) followed by spin-coating on a glass substrate and drying overnight at 80 °C. In summary, the functionalised mesoporous materials can be used for multiple applications such as the preparation of stable hydrophobic, transparent, and temperature-sensitive surfaces, as well as for the adsorption of Rhodamine B dye. The novel synthesis and functionalisation of mesoporous materials, which can be used to fabricate transparent hydrophobic coatings with temperature-sensitive surface properties, and also show excellent adsorption behavior to Rhodamine B dye in water.