Deep X-ray lithography on "sol-gel" processed noble metal mesoarchitectured films.

Noble metal coordination xerogel films (mesostructured with block-copolymers) exhibit solubility switching with increasing X-ray irradiation. Different from other sol-gel systems, these are attributed to film deconstruction under irradiation. These materials can be used as recyclable negative tone resists for deep X-ray lithography that can be further converted into metallic nanoarchitectured films.

Block-Copolymers Enable Direct Reduction and Structuration of Noble Metal-Based Films.

Noble metal nanostructured films are of great interest for various applications including electronics, photonics, catalysis, and photocatalysis. Yet, structuring and patterning noble metals, especially those of the platinum group, is challenging by conventional nanofabrication. Herein, an approach based on solution processing to obtain metal-based films (rhodium, ruthenium (Ru) or iridium in the presence of residual organic species) with nanostructuration at the 20 nm-scale is introduced.

The origin of the high electrochemical activity of pseudo-amorphous iridium oxides.

Combining high activity and stability, iridium oxide remains the gold standard material for the oxygen evolution reaction in acidic medium for green hydrogen production. The reasons for the higher electroactivity of amorphous iridium oxides compared to their crystalline counterpart is still the matter of an intense debate in the literature and, a comprehensive understanding is needed to optimize its use and allow for the development of water electrolysis. By producing iridium-based mixed oxides using aerosol, we are able to decouple the electronic processes from the structural transformation, i.