Front Cover: The fabrication of polymer fibers with anisotropic cross‐sections is achieved by pressing electrospun polymer fibers with flat or patterned substrates while the samples are thermally annealed. The shapes and morphologies of the pressed polymer fibers are controlled by the experimental conditions. Hierarchical polymer fibers with nanorods can also be fabricated by pressing the fibers with porous anodic aluminum oxide templates. Further details can be found in the article by J.‐T. Chen*, Y.‐H. Kao, T.‐Y. Kuo, J.‐T. Liou, Y.‐J. Chiu, C.‐W. Chu, M.‐H. Chi, and C.‐C. Tsai on page 239.
Back Cover: The fabrication and morphologies of three‐dimensional polystyrene‐block‐polydimethylsiloxane (PS‐b‐PDMS) nanostructures confined in the nanopores of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates are studied. The block copolymers wet the nanopores using a novel solvent‐annealing‐induced wetting method. In addition, the morphologies of the PS‐b‐PDMS nanostructures are controlled by changing the wetting conditions. These three‐dimensional nanostructures can serve as nanotemplates for refilling with other functional materials. Further details can be found in the article by C.‐J. Chu, P.‐Y. Chung, M.‐H. Chi, Y.‐H. Kao, and J.‐T. Chen* on page 1598.
A simple and versatile method is developed for preparing anisotropic polymer particles by pressing polymer microspheres at elevated temperatures. Polystyrene (PS) microspheres are used to demonstrate this approach. Depending on the mechanical deformation and wetting of the polymers on the substrates, polymer structures with special shapes such as barrel-like or dumbbell-like shapes can be prepared. The morphology of polymer structures can be controlled by the experimental parameters such as the pressing pressure, the pressing temperature, and the pressing time. The wetting of the polymers on the substrates dominates when the samples are annealing at higher temperatures for longer times.
Front Cover: Nanopressing, a simple and versatile method, is developed to fabricate anisotropic polymer structures by pressing polymer microspheres at elevated temperatures. Polystyrene (PS) microspheres are used to demonstrate this approach. The shapes of the polymer structures are dependent on the pressing conditions, such as the pressure, the pressing time, and the pressing temperature. At shorter pressing times, the pressing effect dominates and barrel‐like polymer structures can be prepared. At longer pressing times, the wetting effect becomes important and dumbbell‐like polymer structures are obtained. This study not only provides a simple method to prepare novel polymer structures, but also leads to a deeper understanding of wetting phenomenon in confined geometries. Further details can be found in the article by Y.‐H. Kao, M.‐H. Chi, C.‐C. Tsai, and J.‐T. Chen* on page 84.
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