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Over the last 50 years, Australian researchers have made significant contributions to polymer science. Australian scientists have participated in the discovery of many polymerization techniques such as nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP), addition-fragmentation polymerization (AFT), and the well-known Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer polymerization (RAFT), as well as the successful commercialization of products utilizing polymers, most notably the plastic banknote. These successful commercial products have enabled the development of a strong polymer community in Australia whose work ranges from polymer synthesis to polymer physics. Junkers and co-workers[4] have combined the RAFT process with photopolymerization to precisely grow polymer brushes from silicon wafers. [Extracted from the article]

The article discuses the use of molecular and chemical forces to self-assemble functional structures that could be integrated into electronic and optical devices. It discusses the study by Thomas Russell at Paul Mulvaney University in Melbourne, Australia and his colleagues about forcing diblock polymer to form a microdomains. It also relates that the resulting hexagonal, closed-packed pores are just 12 nanometres with nearest-neighbor spacing needed to be tunable over a range of 10-50 nanometers. Moreover, it reveals that diblock structure can be tuned to provide a range of surface topologies and several potential templates.