Abstract
The development of nanostructured materials is an important step in tuning the reactivity and selectivity of modern catalysts and electrodes. Here, electrochemical reduction is used to create a templated structure consisting of a regular array of pores from lyotropic liquid crystalline phases. Surfaces such as these exhibit high surface areas and a regular repeat pattern on the nanoscale show incredible promise for uses in heterogeneous catalysis, battery storage, sensors and molecular and chemical sieves and filters. By depositing structures onto a Pt(111) single crystal substrates we have shown that it is possible to control the internal structure of the pore as well as that of the interstitial surface. Results from techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (cv), Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering (GISAXS) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) are presented. By varying specific deposition conditions the diameter, depth and frequency of the templated structures can be controlled and manipulated for a number of different applications.