title: Asymmetric block copolymers for supramolecular templating of inorganic nanospace materials.
abstract: This review focuses on polymeric micelles consisting of asymmetric block copolymers as designed templates for several inorganic nanospace materials with a wide variety of compositions. The presence of chemically distinct domains of asymmetric triblock and diblock copolymers provide self-assemblies with more diverse morphological and functional features than those constructed by EOn POm EOn type symmetric triblock copolymers, thereby affording well-designed nanospace materials. This strategy can produce unprecedented nanospace materials, which are very difficult to prepare through other conventional organic templating approaches. Here, the recent development on the synthesis of inorganic nanospace materials are mainly focused on, such as hollow spheres, tubes, and porous oxides, using asymmetric triblock copolymers.
authors.affiliation: World Premier International (WPI) Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Bishnu Prasad
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Bastakoti
authors.forename: Yunqi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamauchi
keywords: asymmetric block copolymer; hollow nanospheres; mesoporous material; nanospace material; nanotube; polymeric micelle; supramolecular template