Self-assembled inorganic nanopatterns (INPs) made by sol-gel dip-coating: Applications in nanotechnology and nanofabrication

Ceramic nanopatterns have been prepared on various substrates through a simple fast, cheap, reproducible, and easy to scale up “bottom-up” approach, involving sol-gel dip-coating, block copolymer self-assembly, and thermal treatment. The patterns are composed of hexagonally arranged nanoperforations through which the surface of the substrate remains accessible. They constitute novel ordered heterogeneous inorganic nanopatterns (INPs), which present a unique combination of thermal, mechanical, and chemical stability with the very interesting characteristics of ordered nano-heterogeneity. This approach offers unique possibilities to process large-scale nanostructured surfaces finding applications in many domains of nanotechnology and nanofabrication.