Preparation and functions of hybrid membranes with rings of Ag NPs anchored at the edges of highly ordered honeycomb-patterned pores

We report a new, simple strategy to apply honeycomb films for the patterning of colloidal particles. By combination of a "bottom-up" breath figure method and the electrochemical properties of the honeycomb films of ferrocenyl-based oligomers, highly ordered hybrid membranes coated with ring-like patterning of 0D- and 1D-Ag nanoparticles (NPs) have been fabricated. One interesting phenomenon is that the nucleation and adsorption of Ag dots occurred preferentially at the edges of the micropores. The hybrid membranes exhibited richly electrochemical activities towards reduction of iodate and enhanced effectively catalytic reduction of organic dyes. We believe that this method can be used to decorate and/or assemble functional metal NPs such as Au, Pd, and Cu on honeycomb-patterned materials for the further applications of photonics, sensors, and catalysis. Highly ordered hybrid porous membranes coated with a ring-like patterning of 0D- and 1D-Ag nanoparticles exhibited rich electrochemical activities towards reduction of iodate and enhanced catalytic reduction of organic dyes (see figure). This simple strategy can be used to decorate and/or assemble functional metal nanoparticles such as Au, Pd, and Cu on honeycomb-patterned materials and is exploited in photonics, sensors, and catalysis.