Polymer-assisted fabrication of nanoparticles and nanocomposites

This review summarizes recent work on the polymer-assisted fabrication of well-defined inorganic and organic nanoparticles with controlled shape, size, and functional properties. The discussion concentrates on the physical-chemical aspects of the problem. Special attention is paid to the preparation of nanocomposites with individual (non-aggregated) nanoparticles with narrow size distribution and versatile morphologies, including the design of nanoparticles and nanocomposites that can serve multifunctional purposes. We have focused also on the problem of the spatial arrangement of nanoparticles and elucidation of the role of polymers in this process because it is a key problem in nanotechnology industrialization. The potential applications of nanoparticles encapsulated in polymers and in nanocomposites are briefly discussed. We try also to emphasize the synergistic role of the ingredients on the performance of nanocomposites.