Materials with nanoscopic dimensions not only have potential technological applications in areas such as device technology and drug delivery but also are of fundamental interest in that the properties of a material can change in this regime of transition between the bulk and molecular scales. In this article, a relatively new method for preparing nanomaterials, membrane-based synthesis, is reviewed. This method entails synthesis of the desired material within the pores of a nanoporous membrane. Because the membranes used contain cylindrical pores of uniform diameter, monodisperse nanocylinders of the desired material, whose dimensions can be carefully controlled, are obtained. This "template" method has been used to prepare polymers, metals, semiconductors, and other materials on a nanoscopic scale.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/266/5193/1961.full.pdf

Nanomaterials: a membrane-based synthetic approach.

Progress in preparation, processing and applications of polyaniline

Understanding the correlation between magnetic properties and nanostructure involves collaborative efforts between chemists, physicists, and materials scientists to study both fundamental properties and potential applications. This article introduces a classification of nanostructure morphology according to the mechanism responsible for the magnetic properties. The fundamental magnetic properties of interest and the theoretical frameworks developed to model these properties are summarized. Common chemical and physical techniques for the fabrication of magnetic nanostructures are surveyed, followed by some examples of recent investigations of magnetic systems with structure on the nanometer scale. The article concludes with a brief discussion of some promising experimental techniques in synthesis and measurements.

Magnetic Properties of Nanostructured Materials

Nanochemistry: Synthesis in diminishing dimensions

Porous anodic aluminum oxide: anodization and templated synthesis of functional nanostructures.

La polymerisation du pyrrole et du methyl-3 thiophene dans les pores d'une membrane Nuclepore donne les membranes composites dont les pores sont remplis par les fibres de polymere conducteur; la conductivite des fibres augmente lorsque leur diametre diminue

Electronically conductive polymer fibers with mesoscopic diameters show enhanced electronic conductivities

Organic microtubules have recently caused a great deal of excitement in the physics, chemistry, and materials science communities. Such tubules are inherently intriguing chemical systems and have myriad proposed technolgical applications; they may also be useful as mimics of biological microtubules. The only known synthetic route for preparing organic microtubles involves extremely expensive reagents and produces tubules with a broad range of diameters and lengths. The authors have recently discovered a new method for synthesizing organic microtubules. This method uses a microporous membrane as a template during tubule synthesis. The most significant advantage of this template method is that it yields tubules with monodisperse diameters and lengths. They describe this template synthetic method in this paper.

Template synthesis of organic microtubules

Effect of reagent concentrations used to synthesize polypyrrole on the chemical characteristics and optical and electronic properties of the resulting polymer

: The pores in a nanoporous membrane can be used as templates for the synthesis of nanostructures. We have recently shown that conductive polymer fibrils, obtained via this template synthetic method, can show dramatically higher electronic conductivities than conventional versions of the analogous polymers. In this and a succeeding paper we explore the molecular and supermolecular origins of this enhanced electronic conductivity. This paper focuses on supermolecular effects. We have used DC and optical measurements of conductivity, X-ray diffraction, and polarized infrared absorption spectroscopy to show that the polymer chains in the narrowest template-synthesized fibrils are preferentially oriented parallel to the axes of these fibrils. This preferential polymer chain orientation is partially responsible for the observed conductivity enhancements. We also show that template-synthesis can yield poly(3-methylthiophene) fibrils with conductivities as high as 6600 S cm-1. This is the highest conductivity ever reported for a heterocyclic polymer.

/pdf/molecular-and-supermolecular-origins-of-enhanced-electronic-b7exf05evh.pdf

Molecular and Supermolecular Origins of Enhanced Electronic Conductivity in Template-Synthesized Polyheterocyclic Fibrils. Part 1. Supermolecular Effects

Electrochemical investigations of electronically conductive polymers: Part VI. Mechanism of the redox reactions for the electronically conductive form of polypyrrol

Zhihua Cai

Papers

Electronically conductive polymer fibers with mesoscopic diameters show enhanced electronic conductivities

Template synthesis of organic microtubules

Effect of reagent concentrations used to synthesize polypyrrole on the chemical characteristics and optical and electronic properties of the resulting polymer

Molecular and Supermolecular Origins of Enhanced Electronic Conductivity in Template-Synthesized Polyheterocyclic Fibrils. Part 1. Supermolecular Effects

Electrochemical investigations of electronically conductive polymers: Part VI. Mechanism of the redox reactions for the electronically conductive form of polypyrrol