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NANOMATERIALS
It is recognized that the size range that provides the greatest potential and,
hence, the greatest interest is that below 100 nm (equivalent to approximately 500
atom diameters), however, there are still many applications for which larger particles
can provide properties of great interest. Nanoparticles can come in a wide range of
morphologies from spheres, through flakes and platelets, to dendritic structures, tubes,
and rods. Furthermore, nanomaterials cover a hugely diverse range of materials:
polymers, metals and ceramics.
Not all materials that can be made into very small particles mean they have
practical use. However, the fact that these materials can be made at nanoscale gives
them the potential to have some very interesting properties which sharply differ from
ones characteristic for massive materials.
It is important that materials at the nanoscale between 1 nm and 100 nm lie
between the quantum effects of atoms and molecules and the bulk properties of
materials. It is this scale where many properties of materials are controlled by
phenomena that have their critical dimensions at the nanoscale.
By being able to fabricate and control the structure of nanoparticles, the
designers can influence the resulting properties and, ultimately, design materials to
give desired properties. It is widely known, the electronic properties can be controlled
at this scale. This phenomena forms the basis for modern electronics industry. Recent
investigations have shown that the range of applications where the physical size of the
particle can provide enhanced properties that are of benefit are extremely wide.
1.1.3. Nanoparticles fabrication
Dispersed materials are constructed from clusters and small particles. Their
properties depend on the size of clusters. Let us introduce quantitative characteristic
of individual clusters and particles.
Dispersion D
Fig. 1. Clusters of atoms with cubic packing having 8, 27, 64, 125, and 216 atoms. Whereas in an eight
atom cluster all of the atoms are on the surface, the dispersion rapidly declines with increasing cluster
size, as shown in the lower part of the figure [1]
For very small particles, D is unity. As the particle grows and some atoms become
surrounded by their neighbors, the dispersion decreases (Fig. 1). Of course, D also
depends somewhat on the shape of the particles and how the atoms are packed. The
dispersion is already as low as 10-3 for particles of 10 nm (100 Å) radius. Many
chemical reactions are facilitated by surface atoms. Consider a monolayer of gold
atoms (a layer of gold one-atom thick) deposited on iron. This film has a dispersion of
unity since all the gold atoms are on the surface. About 50 layers of gold atoms (D =
1/50) are needed to obtain the optical properties that impart the familiar yellow color
characteristic of bulk gold.