In much of our research, the block copolymer self assembly approach has been used to make nanostructured aluminosilicates. Recently we expanded on this concept and developed a procedure to synthesize mesoporous non-oxide ceramics.

Heat treatment up to temperatures as high as 1500 ºC converts the composites into ordered non-oxide type high-temperature ceramics, as shown in the TEM images below.

Non-oxide type ceramics are of particular interest because of their excellent thermal stability and mechanical properties.

In this case, the ceramic precursor is an oligomer and the composites are formed by crosslinking the oligomers after mixing with the block copolymer.

References:

M. Kamperman, P. Du, R. Scarlat, E. Herz, U. Werner-Zwanziger, R. Graf, J. W. Zwanziger, H. W. Speiss, U. Wiesner "Ordered Mesostructured High Temperature Ceramics using Block Copolymer Mesophases" Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 208 (2007) 2096-2108

C. Garcia, C. Lovell, C. Curry, M. Faught, Y. Zhang, U. Wiesner. "Synthesis and characterization of block copolymer/ceramic precursor nanocomposites based on a polysilazane" Journal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics, 41(24), 2003, 3346-3350.

M. Kamperman, C. Garcia, P. Du, H. Ow, U. Wiesner. "Ordered Mesoporous Ceramics Stable up to 1500°C from Diblock Copolymer Mesophases", Journal of the American Chemical Society, 126(45), 2004, 14708-14709