The incorporation of nanoparticles into polymers is a design approach that is used in many areas of materials science. The concept is attractive because it enables the creation of materials with new or improved properties by mixing multiple constituents and exploiting synergistic effects. One important technological thrust is the development of structural materials with improved mechanical and thermal characteristics. Equally intriguing is the possibility to design functional materials with unique optical or electronic properties, catalytic activity or selective permeation. The broad technological exploitation of polymer nanocomposites is, however, stifled by the lack of effective methods to control nanoparticle dispersion. We report a simple and versatile process for the formation of homogeneous polymer/nanofibre composites. The approach is based on the formation of a three-dimensional template of well-individualized nanofibres, which is filled with any polymer of choice. We demonstrate that this template approach is broadly applicable and allows for the fabrication of otherwise inaccessible nanocomposites of immiscible components.

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We investigate the intermolecular interactions in a mixed phospholipid/cholesterol monolayer using the surface-specific technique of vibrational sum frequency generation. This technique allows us to monitor the conformational and orientational order in the phospholipid as the surface pressure and cholesterol content are varied. We find a disproportionally large increase in phospholipid molecular order upon addition of relatively small amounts of cholesterol, a witness to the condensation effect at the molecular level.