Nucleation of Polymers in Nanopores and Nanocomposites with Nanoparticles/Nanosheets

Ming Wang; Ye Yao; Hui Zhao; Wei-Long Ju; Yun-Lan Su; Du-Jin Wang; Guo-Ming Liu

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3508-2

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Nucleation of Polymers in Nanopores and Nanocomposites with Nanoparticles/Nanosheets

FEATURE ARTICLE | Updated：2026-01-13

- Nucleation of Polymers in Nanopores and Nanocomposites with Nanoparticles/Nanosheets
- Nucleation of Polymers in Nanopores and Nanocomposites with Nanoparticles/Nanosheets
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science 2026年44卷第1期页码：1-12
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Engineering Plastics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  b.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  c.Dipartimento di Scienza Applicata e Tecnologia, Politecnico di Torino-Alessandria Campus, Alessandria 15121, Italy
- Author bio：
  
  ylsu@iccas.ac.cn (Y.L.S.)
  gmliu@iccas.ac.cn (G.M.L.)
- Funds：
  
  This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21873109 and 21922308).;Yun-Lan Su, professor of the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She received her Ph.D. from Peking University in 2003. From 2004 to 2006, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Tsinghua University. Since January 2006, she has been working at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. From October 2013 to October 2014, she was a visiting scholar at Hamburg University of Technology, Germany. Her research focuses on the relationship between the interfacial microstructure and macroscopic properties of polymer-based nanocomposites. She has published more than 100 papers with 3000+ citations.2026 Rising Scholar: Guo-Ming Liu received his Ph.D. from ICCAS (2011). Since then, he has been working at ICCAS, where he is currently a Professor. From 2016 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, as a Newton International Fellow of the Royal Society of UK. His research interests include polymer crystallography, polymer morphology and crystallization kinetics, and polymer structure−property relationships. He has published more than 100 research papers with 5000+ citations.
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3508-2
  中图分类号：
- 收稿：2025-10-16，
  
  录用：2025-11-19，
  
  网络出版：2025-12-25，
  
  纸质出版：2026-01-15
- Accepted：
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Wang, M.; Yao, Y.; Zhao, H.; Ju, W. L.; Su, Y. L.; Wang, D. J.; Liu, G. M. Nucleation of polymers in nanopores and nanocomposites with nanoparticles/nanosheets. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1–12

Ming Wang, Ye Yao, Hui Zhao, et al. Nucleation of Polymers in Nanopores and Nanocomposites with Nanoparticles/Nanosheets[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(1): 1-12.
Wang, M.; Yao, Y.; Zhao, H.; Ju, W. L.; Su, Y. L.; Wang, D. J.; Liu, G. M. Nucleation of polymers in nanopores and nanocomposites with nanoparticles/nanosheets. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 1–12 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3508-2.

Ming Wang, Ye Yao, Hui Zhao, et al. Nucleation of Polymers in Nanopores and Nanocomposites with Nanoparticles/Nanosheets[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(1): 1-12. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3508-2.

摘要

This feature article reviews recent advances in polymer nucleation under confined and interface-dominated conditions

focusing on anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates and nanocomposites containing nanoparticles or nanosheets. The interplay of finite-size and interfacial effects gives rise to distinctive phenomena

including homogeneous nucleation

surface nucleation

prefreezing

and supernucleation.

Abstract

Nucleation

which is the initial step of crystallization

critically governs the polymer crystallization behavior

influencing the crystallization temperature

kinetics

and morphology. However

the direct observation of the nucleation process in polymers remains elusive owing to spatial and temporal resolution limitations. This feature article summarizes the recent progress in understanding polymer nucleation within confined and interface-dominated environments

focusing on three representative systems: anodic aluminum oxide templates and nanocomposites containing nanoparticles or nanosheets. The interplay between finite size and interfacial effects has revealed some novel phenomena

such as homogeneous nucleation

surface nucleation

prefreezing

and supernucleation.

关键词

Keywords

references

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