Polymer Nanostructures: From Surfaces to Nanospheres and Nanoparticles

Dear Colleagues,

Polymers are ubiquitous in daily life applications, being present as parts or full components in all of our technological devices. This is motivated by their excellent physical and chemical properties, ready processability, and relatively low cost. Additionally, polymers have adapted perfectly to new and future system requirements where components must be as small as possible. The development and study of polymer nanostructures, of course, have been key aspects in their success. Polymer nanostructures are materials presenting a characteristic length-scale on the order of 10² nm. From a geometrical point of view, they can be prepared from 0D to 3D systems, as nanoparticles (0D), nanorods/nanotubes (1D), thin films (2D), and nanospheres (3D). Although their study dates from over 25 years ago, they are still a crucial field in the polymer science community, and the current interest in them is driven by different factors. First, new and enhanced preparation techniques have allowed the formation of polymer nanostructures with well-defined characteristics, allowing tunability of their resulting properties to specific applications. Second, characterization methods with lateral resolution, such as those carried out using advanced microscopy techniques, have empowered local studies where each nanostructured element can be well characterized individually. Finally, nanostructured polymers are challenging systems from an academic point of view. The confinement imposed by the nanoscale geometries might turn into changes in the resulting properties, when compared to their macroscopic counterparts. A clear understanding on how and why nanostructuring affects polymer chain conformations is still work in progress.

Considering the current high impact of polymer nanostructures and their applications, this Special Issue of Polymers invites contributions dealing with different aspects of polymer nanostructures. Our widespread focus will address subjects such as preparation and synthesis of nanostructures (thin films, nanospheres, nanoparticles, nanostructured surfaces, etc.), tuning of physicochemical properties of polymer surfaces, nanoprocessing tools in polymer science, physical properties of nanostructured polymers, effect of confinement on polymer systems, novel characterization methods for polymer nanostructures, quantitative mapping of local properties, etc. The above list is only indicative and by no means exhaustive; we welcome original experimental work or review articles dedicated to polymer nanostructures. We hope that the contributions will deal with a variety of nanostructured polymer systems, such as homopolymers and copolymers, topological polymers (branched, stars, rings, etc.), polymer blends, semiconductive and electrically active polymers (conductors and ferroelectrics), polymer electrolytes, polymer nanocomposites, and polymers with applications in biology.

Dr. Daniel E. Martínez-Tong
Guest Editors
Dr. Esther Rebollar
Co-Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Preparation, formation, synthesis of polymer nanostructures
• Nanoprocessing of polymers
• Nanostructured polymer surfaces
• Polymer thin films
• Polymer nanoparticles
• Physical and chemical properties of nanostructured polymers
• Nanoscale methods for characterization of polymer nanostructures
• Quantitative mapping of local properties
• Applications of nanostructured polymers
• Functional polymers