π-π interaction-induced vertical alignment of silica mesochannels templated by a discotic lyotropic liquid crystal

The development of vertically aligned mesochannels in organic/inorganic hybrid films is in high demand and a challenging issue. However, there are no clear guiding principles to attain the surface-mediated vertical alignment. This work proposes the first clear versatile strategy to achieve the vertical alignment by utilizing the π-π interaction between the organic template molecule of a planar discotic liquid crystalline and 2D π-plane of graphite. The crucial role of the π-π interaction can be verified by the exploration with other substrates such as silicon wafer surfaces with varied surface energy (water contact angle: 5°-105°), quartz plates, and polymer films, which provided common parallel alignment with respect to the substrate plane.