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Nanotechnology searches for the development and integration of nanostructured materials to produce creative products for the benefit of the humankind. In special, nanostructured polymers, or nanopolymers, are of rapidly growing interest because they offer a variety of possibilities to construct nano-scale parts, self-assembly structures at different scales, and new properties due to the down-scale sizing and new phase transitions. It is clear that nanopolymers will be in the mainstream of future nanotechnology manufacturing. A classification of nanopolymers will be needed to explore the extensions of existing techniques as well as to develop new approaches. Here we will present a nanopolymer classification scheme based on (a) self-assembled structures (lamellar, lamellar-within-spherical, lamellar-within-cylinder, cylinder-within-lamellar, spherical-within-lamellar, colloidal particles with block copolymers), (b) non self-assembled structures (dendrimers, hyperbranched polymers, polymer brushes, nanofibres, nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanospheres, nanocapsules, porous materials, nano-objects), (c) nanostructures on polymeric surfaces (nanoimprint, soft lithography, electron-beam lithography, dip-pen lithography), and (d) number of nanoscale dimensions (1-D (thin films), 2-D (nanofibres, nanotubes, nanostructures on polymeric surfaces) and 3-D (nanospheres, nanocapsules, dendrimers, hyperbranched polymers, self-assembled structures, porous materials, nano-objects)). Illustrative examples will be given and discussed. |