Fabrication of Polymer Nanotubes Using Alumina Template

The polymer nanotube and nanorod of polystyrene (PS) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) respectively hav been synthesized by wetting process, using nanoscale AAO templates. For the AAO template formed in phosphoric acid, which has the pore diameters between 200 and 300 nm, the polymer nanotubes can be obtained. However, for the AAO template formed in oxalic acid with the pore diameters between 60 and 70 nm, polymer nanorods are obtained due to a complete filling of the pore space instead of pore wall wetting of polymer. It is indicated that the wetting behavior of polymer on the AAO template play an important role in synthesis of polymer nanotubes, and the shape and length can be controlled by anodic time for AAO template fabrication.