Magnetic particles in supported polymer nanostructures

Miniaturization of devices demanding functional nanoscale materials is of rapidly growing interest in science and technology. Polymer supported functional nanoparticles can fulfill the demand since the target properties can be achieved by using nanoparticles with desired functionality. An ordered arrangement of nanoparticles in the polymer matrix is necessary for special application purposes. It can be achieved by, either selective positioning of colloidal nanoparticles using a template offered by block copolymers through dewetting and self-assembly, or direct synthesis of nanoparticles inside the block copolymer template. In the present work, several different approaches including dewetting, directed self-assembly and direct synthesis with sputtering techniques have been investigated with respect to the achievable installation of ordered nanostructures of magnetic nanoparticles and diblock copolymers.