TEMPLATED SYNTHESIS OF SHAPE-CONTROLLED POLYMERIC NANOFIBERS BY CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (CVD) IN LIQUID CRYSTALS

• Main Authors: BEDOLLA PANTOJA, Marco A, CHENG, Kenneth, LAHANN, Joerg, ABBOTT, Nicholas L
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 08.01.2020
• Subjects: APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBONFILAMENTS; CHEMICAL FEATURES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FILAMENTS,THREADS, FIBRES, BRISTLES OR RIBBONS; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MECHANICAL METHODS OR APPARATUS IN THE MANUFACTURE OFARTIFICIAL FILAMENTS, THREADS, FIBRES, BRISTLES ORRIBBONS; NANOTECHNOLOGY; NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL THREADS OR FIBRES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; SPINNING; TEXTILES; TRANSPORTING

Methods are provided for fabricating functional nanostructures (e.g., nanowires/nanofibers) via chemical vapor deposition polymerization of paracyclophanes or substituted paracyclophanes onto and through a structured fluid, such as a film of liquid crystals, on a substrate. A one-step process is provided that does not require the use of any solid templates, nor does it require any volatile solvents, additives or catalysts. The resulting nanowires/nanofibers can be in the form of aligned nanowires/nanofibers arrays supported on any solid material, in the form of nanofibers mats supported on porous materials, or as individual free-standing nanowires/nanofibers. By using chiral liquid crystals, chiral nanofibers can be fabricated. The functional nanowires/nanofibers can contain one or more type of surface reactive groups that allows for post surface chemical modifications on the nanowires/nanofibers. Such nanostructures can be used in a range of different applications, including in biomedical applications.