Template-assisted nanostructuring growth

There exist a variety of methods to synthesize quasi-one-dimensional nanostructured materials, which include but not limited to vapor phase growth, template-assisted synthesis, sol-gel deposition, surfactant-assisted growth, sonochemical method, hydrothermal method, and electrochemical deposition [21], Among the various methods, the electrochemical anodization method is one of the simplest and cheapest methods to synthesize ordered quasi-one-dimensional nanostructure. 

In this chapter we study the overview of the various naturally and artificially prepared self-assembled nanostructures which are currently very important and in demand in biomedical applications, for example, bone tissues, natural laminated composites present in sea shells, peptide chain arrays and their derivatives and cell membranes are naturally self-assembled materials. And Langmuir—Blodgett films, surfactant-directed nonporous materials, and molecularly directed films, composites, nanombes, nanofibrils, nanowires, spherical vesicles, and template-assisted growth are artificially prepared self-assembled nanostructures. Here we discuss in brief the synthesis of those nanostructures which exist in nature and are prepared artificially to fulfill certain requirements (Figure 2.1). 

Wire-shaped growth of nanostructured PPy with diameter <10 nm, has been obtained by electropolymerization at naturally occurring step defects and artificially formed pit defects of HOPG, in a template assisted electropolymerization where the size of the nanostmctures could be controlled by limiting the pyrrole polymerization time at anodic potentials [242], Electrochemical polymerization of pyrrole within the confines of anodized alumina templates and subsequent metal nanoparticles immobilization on the surface of polymer pillars has been used to make surfaces that show roughness on two independently controllable levels sub-microscopic roughness from polymer pillar dimensions and nanoscopic roughness from the appropriate size selection of metal NPs [243],... 

A variety of solution methods such as seed-assisted growth, template-based synthesis, polyol method, solvothermal method and oriented attachment have also been developed for the synthesis of one-dimensional nanostructures. Here we will present various examples of the nanowires including metals, oxides, chalcogenides and pnictides with different synthetic methods. 

A hard template can restrict the growth of nanomaterials by spatial confinement. To grow ID nanomaterials, anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) is a commonly used hard template with uniform hex-agonally ordered channels. Assisted by the capillary driving force, the precursors diffuse into the channel. After precipitation by a base or simple hydrolysis by heating, the ID nanostructure can form. ... 

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