Instant Preparation of Self‐Assembled Metal‐Complexed Lipid Nanotubes That Act as Templates to Produce Metal‐Oxide Nanotubes

Self-assembly of metal-complexed lipid nanotubes results from the simple mixing of two aqueous solutions containing a metal cation and an oligoglycine-based lipid under mild conditions. Mn2+, Fe3+, and Cu2+ in octahedral coordinations tend to form tubular structures with the lipids examined. Calcination using the Cu2+- or Mn2+-complexed lipid nanotubes as templates gives copper or manganese oxide nanotubes in a single step; a schematic illustration of a metal-complexed lipid nanotube is shown in the figure.