Nanoparticles in mesoporous films, a happy marriage for materials science

Mesoporous ordered materials, whose porosity is within the 2–50-nm range, are an ideal host for functional nanoparticles. Mesoporous thin films, in particular, offer a large variety of options for the fabrication of advanced materials and devices based on the host-guest combination of matrix nanoparticles. Nanocomposite mesoporous films embedding metal, oxide, and semiconductor nanoparticles have been prepared using as matrix oxides, mixed oxides, and organic-inorganic hybrids. The organization of the pores is an important peculiar property of mesoporous ordered films and allows producing nanocomposites whose nanoparticles follow a very specific array within the material. The main synthesis methods to obtain mesostructured films containing nanoparticles, together with their applications, are briefly introduced in the present review.