Cylindrical micelles were added as templates to sol-gel reaction mixtures to yield plates to sol highly elongated polymer/inorganic nanostructures with smooth nanothin surface coatings of silica, zirconia, or alumina. Differences in the templating activity of neutral or cationic coronas can be exploited by using triblock comicelles to produce discrete nanocylinders with spatially isolated domains of titania surface deposition.