Nanolitic™ Technologies

Nanolitic™ Processes for formation of nano-structured and nano-scale organized films and materials films and coatings (surface coatings, low-dimensional nanostructures, nanocomposites, membranes, capsules, vesicles) are based on combination of a number of original chemical synthesis techniques and nano-assembling methods. They include electrochemical and photochemical processes; chemical reactions in low-dimensional and nanometer-scale systems; the use of special ligands (including biomolecules); adsorption and controlled assembling of nano-objects of various nature.

Formation of organic and nanocomposite films.

For preparing of the nano-scale organized precursors and nano-structured films, a combination of Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique and layer-by-Iayer (LbL) alternating deposition of polymers, nano-objects (nanoclusters, nanoparticles, low-dimensional nanostructures) and their complexes is used. The polymeric and nanocomposite films can be either preformed on the water-air interface followed by their transferring onto a desirable surface, or prepared directly on the surface to be modified. Various planar and non-planar  surfaces (glass, quartz, silicon, graphite, ceramics, metals, polymers, surfactant and lipid monolayers) and dispersed particles (inorganic crystals and nanoparticles, polymeric microspheres, carbon tubes, surfactant and lipid vesicles) can be used. Depending on the required properties, synthetic polymers and biomolecules can be used for a simple dispersing of nano-objects (passive matrix) or as a functional component of the film (active matrix).

Stabilization of resulting films is achieved mainly due to electrostatic, hydrophobic and other interactions between nano-components. Being reversible in water surrounding, these interactions allow the film-forming components to move with respect to each other, finally creating complexes with the optimum compositions and spatial orientations (ordering) via self-organization processes. Specific properties of the films are controlled by varying physical-chemical characteristics of interacting compounds including polymers and functional nano-objects as well as conditions for synthetic procedures (temperature, pH and ionic strength of solutions, deposition time, etc.).

Formation of inorganic nanostructures and films.

Novel noble metal and metal oxides low-dimensional nanostructures have been synthesized by original interfacial technology.