Preparation of helical transition-metal oxide tubes using organogelators as structure-directing agents.

We prepared novel transition-metal (Ti, Ta, V) oxide fibers with chiral, helical, and nanotubular structures. The nanostructured metal oxide materials were provided by the sol-gel polymerization of metal alkoxides using chiral self-assemblies of organogelators as structure-directing agents. The chiral structures of the metal oxide fibers can be created by the formation of chiral self-assemblies constructed by organogelators and the transcription of the organogel superstructure into metal oxides.