Effect of nanosized surfactant molecules on the etching of ion tracks: New degrees of freedom in design of pore shape

A new method to control the geometry of track-etch nano- and micropores is described. Surfactant molecules added to a solution used for etching out ion tracks, create a steric-hindrance effect which is responsible for the formation of bottleneck or cigar-like pores. New applications are made possible with these new pore geometries. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.