The ability to organize functional materials into different types of hierarchical architectures is of paramount importance to nanomaterials research. A solution-based method to synthesize cobalt nanofibers into pine-tree-leaf hierarchical superstructures has been described by researchers in Singapore.
Hua Chun Zeng and Cheng Chao Li showed that metallic papers made from these lightweight nanofibers are magnetically responsive and display an extraordinary ultrahydrophobicity (water contact angle 172.3°).
Because of their unique structural features and other physicochemical properties, the cobalt nanofibers may find new applications in the near future.
Cheng Chao Li and Hua Chun Zeng*
J. Mater. Chem., 2010, Advance Article
DOI:10.1039/C0JM01621G Paper
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