Oxides as Templates

Lu Z et al (2011) Synthesis of ultrathin silicon nanosheets by using graphene oxide as template. Chem Mater 23(24) 5293-5295... 

In the reaction of unprotected uridine with tri(imidazolyl-l)phosphine (ratio 1 1.5) under mild conditions (THF, — 78° to 0 °C, 10 min) and subsequent oxidation with iodide, two types of polymers [(Up)n (n = 2-6) and (Up)nU (n = 2—5)] are formed. Additives such as metal cations or polynucleotides (poly U and poly A) acting as templates in the oxidation process showed a significant effect on the ratio of the 3, 5 -linked to 2, 5 -linked oligomer 17 177 ... 

Oxide surfaces, and in particular oxide films, are versatile substrates for the preparation of model catalysts. Quite a few of these systems show nanoscale reconstructions, which can be employed as templates for the growth of ordered model catalysts of reduced complexity. In order to efficiently control the growth of nanostructured metal particle arrays, two conditions have to be met. First, the template must provide sites of high interaction energy that trap the deposited metals. Second, the kinetics of the growth process must be carefully controlled by choosing... 

As mentioned earlier, biological systems have developed optimized strategies to design materials with elaborate nanostructures [6]. A straightforward approach to obtaining nanoparticles with controlled size and organization should therefore rely on so-called biomimetic syntheses where one aims to reproduce in vitro the natural processes of biomineralization. In this context, a first possibility is to extract and analyze the biological (macro)-molecules that are involved in these processes and to use them as templates for the formation of the same materials. Such an approach has been widely developed for calcium carbonate biomimetic synthesis [13]. In the case of oxide nanomaterials, the most studied system so far is the silica shell formed by diatoms [14]. 

In another procedure, carbon nanotubes were used as templates for the deposition of V205 nanotubes the template was subsequently removed by burning the sample in air at 650 °C (40). This strategy can be easily adopted for the synthesis of different oxide nanotubes, as shown by Rao and co-workers (5). 

It is important to note that in addition to microporous solids, other chemical systems have been used to template the growth of nanomaterials. For example, emulsions have been used to pattern both the pores in titania [14] and the packing of latex particles [46]. Reversed micelles have also been used as patterning agents. Examples include the syntheses of super-paramagnetic ferrite nanoparticles [15] and BaC03 nanowires [47]. Finally, carbon nanotubules have also been used as templates [16,48,49]. A variety of nanomaterials including metal oxides [16,48,49] and GaN have been synthesized inside such tubules [50]. 

Synthetic lipids and peptides have been found to self-assemble into tubules [51,52]. Several groups have used these tubules as templates [17,51,53-56]. Much of this work has been the electroless deposition of metals [51,54]. Electrolessly plated Ni tubules were found to be effective field emission cathode sources [55]. Other materials templated in or on self-assembled lipid tubules include conducting polymer [56] and inorganic oxides [53]. Nanotubules from cellular cytoskeletons have also been used for electroless deposition of metals [57]. 

CNTs have been used as templates producing other nanotubes such as gold and zinc oxide nanotubes. These nanotubes are hydrophilic while CNTs are hydrophobic allowing alternative uses where the behavior of the tube can be varied according to its environment. 

Inorganics can also be synthesized and used as templates. Thus, controlled siloxane networks were formed when dispersions of alkoxysilanes (such as (MeO)3SiMe) are mixed with the suitable template matrixes. Ultrafine particles of metal oxides can be used as starting materials for the formation of metal oxide films. For instance, a mixture of a double-chained ammonium amphiphile and an aqueous solution of aluminum oxide particles (diameter about 10 100 nm) gives a multilayered aluminum oxide film when calcinated at over 300°C. 

Metal oxide nanotubes have been synthesized by a diverse variety of fabrication routes. For example titania nanotubes, and nanotube arrays, have been produced by deposition into a nanoporous alumina template [48-51], sol-gel transcription using organo-gelators as templates [52,53], seeded growth [54], hydrothermal processes [55-57] and anodic oxidation [58-65]. 

Satishkumar BC, Govindaraj AG, Vogl EM, Basumallick L, Rao CNR (1997) Oxide nanotubes prepared using carbon nanotubes as templates. J Mater Res 12 604-606... 

Deposition of metals may lead to well dispersed metal nanoparticles, as discussed in the previous section, but also to special metal structures. Using a Xi02 nanotube array prepared by anodic oxidation as a template and electrodepositing An onto the template. An nanonets could be prepared. 

POLY(ETHYLENE OXIDE), PEG, AND POLY(VINYL PYRROLIDONE), PVP, AS TEMPLATES... 

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