Mineralization of nanoparticles in block copolymer micelles

Block copolymer micelles provide a means for controlled mineralization of inorganic particles having diameters between 1 and 20 nm. Besides the control over the particle growth, self-assembly of the macromolecules allows the defined arrangement of nanoparticles on substrates in thin films or in bulk samples and provides a concept to manipulate and transport particles that are much smaller than the wavelength of visible light. It has been demonstrated how thin polymer films can be prepared with monodisperse noble metal particles, that is, gold, silver, palladium and so on, or small semiconductor crystallites, for example, CdS and PbS. Other advances include the first successful attempt to control the formation of superlattices and the orientation and modification of the crystallites, aswell as their particle size and the topological arrangement.