Nanostructures and Nanomaterials. Synthesis, Properties, and Applications

Abstract

Nanomaterials and Nanostructures attract tremendous attention worldwide in recent research fields, including physics, chemists, material scientists and mechanical and electrical engineers. Nanotechnology referees to the development of devices, structures, and systems whose size varies from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). The term nano, originated from the Greek with the meaning of dwarf, indicates physical dimensions that are in the range of one-billionth of a meter. Thus, one nm is approximately the length of two hydrogen atoms and 1000 nm is the mean dimension of a bacterium. Nanoscale structures permit the control of fundamental properties of materials without changing the materials chemical status, requiring knowledge drawn from a variety of scientific and engineering arenas. This is why; designing at the nanoscale is working in a world where physics, chemistry, electrical and mechanical engineering, and even biology become unified into an integrated field. Thus, all the products are manufactured from atoms and their properties depend on how those atoms are arranged. For all these reasons, nanomaterials often have properties dramatically different from their bulkscale counterparts. The goal of nanotechnology is to close the size gap between the smallest fabricated structures and chemically synthesized large molecules. The aim of this book, organized by 9 chapters and appendices, is “to summarize the fundamentals and technical approaches in synthesis, fabrication, and processing of nanostructures and nanomaterials has to provide the readers with a systematic and coherent picture of the field".