Ostwald ripening a synthetic approach for hollow nanomaterials英文学习资料.pdfVIP

Current Nanoscience, 2007, 3, 177-181 177 Ostwald Ripening: A Synthetic Approach for Hollow Nanomaterials Hua Chun Zeng* Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260 Abstract: Fabrication of nanomaterials with hollow interiors is an important research area in nanoresearch, owing to their potential ap- plications in photonic devices, drug delivery, material encapsulation, ionic intercalation, surface functionalization, nanocatalysts, mem- brane nanoreactors, and many other technologies. The common preparative methods for this new class of materials can be broadly di- vided into hard and soft template-assisted syntheses. In recent years, furthermore, the interest in template-free techniques for these mate- rials has also increased, as the new processes involved in these techniques are relatively simple and less demanding, compared to the template-assisted processes. In this short review, we will introduce the application of a well-known physical phenomenon of crystal growth – Ostwald ripening – in the fabrication of hollow nanomaterials. It has been demonstrated that formation of the interior spaces of nanostructures depends on the aggregative states of the primary crystallites during the synthesis. With this new development, many inor- ganic nanomaterials with interior spaces can now be fabricated in solution media together with the materials synthesis. Different types of Ostwald ripening observed in this synthetic approach have been reviewed. In particular, various geometric structures and configurations prepare