Unique microstructure of mesoporous Pt (H_i-Pt) prepared via direct physical casting in lyotropic liquid crystalline media

Two-dimensional hexagonally ordered mesoporous Pt particles are prepared by Pt deposition in the aqueous domains of lyotropic liquid crystals (LLC) by chemical reduction with Zn powders. Interestingly, the framework is composed of connected nanoparticles of about 3 nm in size. Moreover, it is proved that the lattice fringes on the atomic crystallinity are coherently extended across the several nanoparticles in the framework. Such a framework composed of connected nanoparticles with extended crystallinity is uniquely created by using LLC as a soft template, which is not attainable by a traditional approach using mesoporous silica as a hard template. Through the structural identification, the formation mechanism of mesoporous Pt in the presence of LLC is thought to be continuous deposition of Pt nanoparticles from one nanoparticle.