Template-directed synthesis of hybrid nanowires and nanorods

由于聚丙烯酸与多种不同金属离子的配位能力，具有亲水性聚丙烯酸芯和疏水性聚丙烯酸丁酯或聚苯乙烯壳的圆柱形聚合物刷可以用作制造各种无机纳米线的圆柱形模板和纳米反应器。通过控制不同长度和直径的聚合物刷的合成，可以很容易地实现纳米线尺寸的控制。聚合物刷的外壳可以保护所制造的纳米线免遭结块。此外，杂化材料的溶解度可以通过聚合物外壳来控制。根据纳米线的材料和尺寸的不同，可以获得混合材料的独特性能（如磁性、电性、半导体性、催化性），用于各种应用。

Well-defined cylindrical polymer brushes with hydrophilic poly(acrylic acid) core and hydro-phobic poly(n-butylacrylate) or polystyrene shell can be used as cylindrical templates and nanoreactors for the fabrication of various inorganic nanowires, due to the coordination ability of poly(acrylic acid) with a number of different metal ions. The size control of nanowires can be easily achieved via controlled synthesis of the polymer brushes with different lengths and diameters. The shell of the polymer brushes protects the fabricated nanowires from agglomeration. In addition, the solubility of the hybrid materials can be controlled by the polymer shell. Depending on the material and the size of nanowires, unique properties (such as magnetic, electric, semiconducting, catalytic properties) of the hybrids can be obtained for various applications.