The lamellar lyotropic liquid crystalline phases of Brij56 nonionic surfactants were used to template the deposition of nanostructured palladium films on alpha-Al2O3 substrates. The reaction between hydrazine hydrate and Pd2+ dissolved within the aqueous domains of the liquid crystalline phase generated the nanostructured palladium. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission election microscopy (TEM) studies indicated that the resulting films possessed regular arrays of channels with periodicity of 1 nm, which was obviously smaller than that of the templates. The size mismatch might arise from the discharge of nitrogen during the reaction and the relatively low Pd2+ concentrations. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.