Stepwise Assembly of Nanoparticles, ‐tubes, ‐rods, and ‐wires in Reverse Micelle Systems

A traditional facile method was used for the stepwise‐assembly synthesis of CaSO4·2H2O nanoparticles, ‐tubes, ‐rods, and ‐wires. Sizes of these nanostructures vary from tens of nanometers to tens of microns. The key point of the stepwise‐assembly process is the reaction time. The growth process was studied as a function of the reaction time and this was used to guide the synthesis of other one‐dimensional nanomaterials in reverse micelle systems. The results showed that this growth process is somewhat universal in synthesizing inorganic salts with zero/one‐dimensional and solid/hollow structures in reverse micelle systems. The growing mechanism was also explored and it was believed to be an assembly‐based growth in association and concurrent with the surfactant‐templating mechanism. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007)