2000 MRS Spring Meeting Leads Materials Research into the New Millennium
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Technical Symposia Nanotechnology In one of four special U.S. government presentations, M. Roco (NSF), chair of the NSTC Interagency Working Group on Nanoscience, Engineering, and Technology, said that U.S. government agencies are following a national initiative in placing nanotechnology at the top of their scientific research priorities. He said that current challenges in manufacturing at the nanoscale include creating tailored structures at the 0.1–100 nm range, combining top-down and bottom-up approaches, and integrating along scales with larger systems. For the first time, the MRS Meeting hosted Symposium EE on Nanostructures in Polymers. The main theme showed how researchers might exploit the natural length scales of polymeric materials to create heterophase structures of nanoscale dimensions. Among the highlights, M.F. Rubner (MIT) demonstrated a novel layer-by-layer deposition strategy for producing nanoscopic, multilayered heterostructures containing metal nanoparticles and L. Leibler (Elf Atochem) described a method to exploit the inherent self-assembling properties of triblock copolymers to produce supertough semicrystalline materials. In Symposium CC, the synthesis, char-
acterization, and properties of organic/ inorganic materials were covered. Within this context, B. Lebeau (CNRS, Mulhouse) and F. Schuth (MPI, Mulheim) discussed the funtionalization of nanopores to produce materials with photonic applications. J. Liu (PNNL) gave a talk titled “Multifunctionalized Hybrid Ceramic Materials Show Potentials for Selective Adsorption, Efficient Catalysis, and Controlled Release.” Nature is abundant with multifunctional materials that show extremely high efficiency and selectivity. In addition, such materials are highly intelligent so that the activity and accessibility are regulated based on the functional need of the system. One good example is an enzyme. Novel functional hybrid materials have now been created that mimic some of the functions of the biological counterpart. Instead of relying on one or two kinds of functional groups, multiple functional groups are attached to an ordered nanoporous material. This material shows enzyme-like catalytic activity. In addition, a molecular imprinting technique is used to control the spatial arrangement of the functional groups as well as the shape of the microporosity. This approach produced hierarchical nanoporous materials with precise shape and size selectivity. Furthermore, incorporating smart poly-
Meeting attendees take the opportunity to visit the exhibitors.
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MRS BULLETIN/AUGUST 2000
2000 MRS Spring Meeting Leads Materials Research into the New Millennium
mers into the hybrid nanoporous materials allows the accessibility to the pore channels to be regulated by a change in temperature. Temperature-controlled drug release has been demonstrated. This class of hybrid materials is believed to have potential for more efficient catalysis in chemical industry, for highly selective adsorption in environmental remediation, and for controlled release in biomedi
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