Nanomolding usually refers to a top-down fabrication method by which a formable or moldable material is shaped using a mold of nanoscale dimensions. Nanomolding is the underlying mechanism for a wide range of nanofabrication methods including template-based deposition, extrusion, nanoembossing, soft lithography, nanoimprint lithography, thermomechanical nanomolding, and nanoimprinting. Its suitability for nanofabrication in a wide range of materials and states of matter makes it one of the most versatile nanofabrication methods. It offers solutions for the fabrication of a wide range of nanomaterials for applications including catalysts, energy, devices, and a wide range of surface functionalization as well as improvements of lithography techniques. This review discusses the various physical mechanisms underlying the nanomolding process, and how they relate to the specifics of the states of matter and the material classes. Nanofabrication methods will then be categorized based on their underlying mechanism, materials that they can fabricate, and technological characteristics such as scalability, costs, precision, and versatility. This will help the reader navigate the numerous, often very specific, methods of this advanced field, and identify the most appropriate process and state of matter for a specific application. A general discussion on nanomolding follows, from accomplishments to date and the challenges that lie ahead in realizing the many potential nanodevices and structures that researchers have envisioned. Particularly the recent advances of nanomolding have resulted in a paradigm shift of nanofabrication in which the design of nanodevices is no longer limited by material and nanostructured geometries but can be selected from a very wide palette of materials.

纳米成型通常是指一种自上而下的制造方法，通过这种方法，可成型或可成型材料使用纳米级尺寸的模具成型。纳米成型是各种纳米制造方法的基本机制，包括基于模板的沉积、挤出、纳米压纹、软光刻、纳米压印光刻、热机械纳米成型和纳米压印。它适用于各种材料和物质状态的纳米制造，使其成为最通用的纳米制造方法之一。它为制造各种应用的纳米材料提供解决方案，包括催化剂、能源、设备和广泛的表面功能化以及光刻技术的改进。这篇综述讨论了纳米成型过程背后的各种物理机制，以及它们如何与物质状态和材料类别的细节相关。然后，纳米制造方法将根据其潜在机制、可制造的材料以及可扩展性、成本、精度和多功能性等技术特征进行分类。这将帮助读者浏览这一高级领域的众多、通常非常具体的方法，并为特定应用确定最合适的过程和物质状态。接下来是关于纳米成型的一般性讨论，从迄今为止的成就以及在实现研究人员设想的许多潜在纳米器件和结构方面面临的挑战。