Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

The fabrication route for the nanoshaped materials presented in this paper could be applied to a range of inorganic materials. Hence it is a very promising technique for the preparation of materials with a variety of potential applications.

This paper describes the use of electrospun fibers to fabricate tubular titanium dioxide with structure control in the nanoscale regime. The paper is highly cited because 1) titanium dioxide has a wide range of applications, such as photocatalysis and solar energy, and hence novel techniques to control the morphological properties of titanium dioxide are constantly pursued; 2) the fabrication of tubular structures is still a challenge, and therefore different methods for tube fabrication are of interest to the scientific community; 3) it shows an application of electrospun fibers (which are now being synthesized with a variety of diameters, various surface morphologies and in a controlled manner, allowing alignment of the fibers) as templates for making inorganic structures; and 4) the results show that intrinsic mimicking can be observed using the sol-gel coating technique.

  Does it describe a new discovery or new methodology that's useful to others? 

The fabrication route for the nanoshaped materials presented in this paper could be applied to a range of inorganic materials. Hence it is a very promising technique for the preparation of materials with a variety of potential applications. This paper demonstrates in particular 1) that electrospun fibers can be used as templates for the formation of metal oxide structures; 2) that sol-gel coating can be applied in a controlled fashion to such fibers to obtain tubular structures; and 3) the meticulous precision afforded by sol-gel coating to replicate the template. The initial polymer fibers have indentations with dimensions of about 100 nm, and the final inorganic tubes have nodules that represent inverse replication of these indentations.

  Could you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?

The shape and structure of a material influences its properties and therefore in what areas it can be applied and how well it performs. One method that is used to control the shape and structure of a material is templating—using a preformed mold around which the final material is made. This paper demonstrates the use of polymer fibers, an order of magnitude thinner than human hair, as templates and a coating procedure which places a thin layer of material on the fiber surface. When the polymer is removed the coating material stays in place, giving tubes of the final material. The inner surface of the tube retains very small structuring from the polymer fiber surface. These tubes have a wide range of potential applications.

  How did you become involved in this research?

Nearly six years ago I began researching the use of polymeric templates for the fabrication of highly porous inorganic structures. In particular, sol-gel techniques were applied to produce metal oxide structures. Using a titanium alkoxide precursor the technique employed produced a coating of titanium dioxide on the polymeric surfaces. The work in this paper led on from an approach we had been applying to different polymer templates, monolithic polymer gels and porous polymer films, which we modified to give coating of the polymer fibers. The use of new templates, modification of the coating procedure and application of the final inorganic structures is continuing.

Rachel A. Caruso
Inaugural Centenary Research Fellow, 
School of Chemistry
University of Melbourne
Victoria, Australia