Nanostructured materials microemulsion

The current or potential industrial applications of microemulsions indude metal working, catalysis, advanced ceramics processing, production of nanostructured materials (see Nanotechnology), dyeing, agrochemicals, cosmetics, foods, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology (9,12—18). Environmental and human-safety aspects of surfactants have begun to receive considerable attention (19—21). 

Numerous attempts to prepare nanostructured materials by polymerization of suitable monomers (hke MMA and styrene) in water-in-oil [76,77] or oil-in-water [39,51,78-81] and bicontinuous microemulsion [27,82-84] have been made. Polymeric materials were traditionally stabilized by non-polymerizable... 

Recent scientific literature demonstrates a growing interest in new methods of nanoparticle synthesis, driven primarily by an ever-increasing awareness of the unique properties and technological importance of nanostructured materials. The fabrication of nanoparticles within reverse microemulsions [40, 146] has been shown to be a convenient route to monodisperse particles of controllable size. A recognised goal of these synthetic approaches is to achieve control over the composition, size, surface species, solubility, stability, isolability and other functional properties of the nanostructures. The combination of reverse microemulsion and microwave heating has the added advantage that the oil phase in the reverse microemulsion system is transparent to microwave so that the aqueous domains are heated directly, selectively and rapidly. 

Another interesting heterogeneous polymerization using macromonomers is a microemulsion copolymerization to produce particles 10-100 nm in diameter. Gan and coworkers [150] have prepared transparent nanostructured polymeric materials by direct polymerization of bicontinuous micro emulsions consisting... 

We have reviewed recent advances in the development of hierarchical self-assembly structures on the basis of coordination polymers. The judicious combination of reversible coordination polymers with oppositely charged species allows us to fabricate a variety of nanometer-sized self-assembled structures. Formation of films, hollow spheres, micelles, microemulsions, and nanoribbons has been observed. These secondary nanostructures can be used as new functional materials. 

Aqueous ionic liquid microemulsions as electrolytes for electrochemical deposition are special and different from traditional aqueous solution and ionic liquids. Electrochemical approaches have been among the first to be used for the fabrication of inorganic nanopartides and nanostructured films in ionic Hquids. The properties of ionic liquids opened the door to the electrodeposition of metals and semiconductors at room temperature, which was ptreviously only possible from high-temperature molten salts. For example, Al, Mg, Ti, Si, Ge and rare-earth-elements related materials can be obtained from ionic hquids. 

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