Purpose-built metal oxide nanomaterials. The emergence of a new generation of smart materials

Abstract A new concept has been developed in order to achieve a new generation of smart materials, namely purpose-built materials, modeled and designed to match the physical and structural requirements of their applications. A model based on the thermodynamic monitoring of the nucleation, growth, and aging process of metal oxide by minimization of the interfacial tension, yielding to the thermodynamic stabilization of the system, results in well-designed and well-ordered nanostructured materials with the required porosity, morphology, size, and orientation on various substrates.