Inorganic nanomaterials

Materials science goes back to prehistoric times, where people started to utilize rocks, bones, leather, and other materials they found in nature to fabricate tools and clothing. Later, the knowledge evolved and metals, alloys, ceramics, and fabrics replaced the older materials with inferior properties. In recent times, the knowledge of materials and processing improved further and more advanced materials for more sophisticated (or fashionable) applications have become available. The synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials of specific composition and size is a burgeoning area of materials science research. 

N anomaterials have been around for hundreds of years and are typically defined as particles of size ranging from 1 to 100 nm in at least one dimension. The inorganic nanomaterial catalysts discussed here are manganese oxides and titanium dioxide. Outside the scope of this chapter are polymers, pillared clays, coordination compounds, and inorganic-organic hybrid materials such as metal-organic frameworks. 

This chapter reviews recent work on the fabrication and characterization of bio-inorganic nanomaterials based on organically functionalized magnesium phyllosilicate materials. We begin with the general procedures used to synthesize and characterize these organodays (Section 8.2), and then describe how higher-order... 

The approaches used for preparation of inorganic nanomaterials can be divided into two broad categories solution-phase colloidal synthesis and gas-phase synthesis. Metal and semiconductor nanoparticles are usually synthesized via solution-phase colloidal techniques,4,913 whereas high-temperature gas-phase processes like chemical vapor deposition (CVD), pulsed laser deposition (PLD), and vapor transfer are widely used for synthesis of high-quality semiconductor nanowires and carbon nanotubes.6,7 Such division reflects only the current research bias, as promising routes to metallic nanoparticles are also available based on vapor condensation14 and colloidal syntheses of high-quality semiconductor nanowires.15... 

Slocik, J.M., and Naik, R.R. "Biological assembly of hybrid inorganic nanomaterials". Curr. Nanosci. 3(2), 117-120 (2007). 

The nanoadditives used for fabricating the PNs can be a vast number of inorganic nanomaterials that, in general, are classified into four categories according to their dimensionality as shown in... 

Synthesis forms a vital aspect of the science of nanomaterials. In this context, chemical methods have proved to be more effective and versatile than physical methods and have therefore, been employed widely to synthesize a variety of nanomaterials, including zero-dimensional nanocrystals, one-dimensional nanowircs and nanotubes as well as two-dimensional nanofilms and nanowalls. Chemical synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials has been pursued vigorously in the last few years and in this article we provide a perspective on the present status of the subject. The article includes a discussion of nanocrystals and nanowires of metals, oxides, chalcogenides and pnictides. In addition, inorganic nanotubes and nanowalls have been reviewed. Some aspects of core-shell particles, oriented attachment and the use of liquid-liquid interfaces are also presented. 

Kanishka Biswas received his BSc degree from Jadavpur University, Kolkata in 2003. He is a student of the integrated PhD programme of Indian Institute of Science, Bungalore and received his MS degree in 2006. He has worked primarily on the synthesis and characterization of inorganic nanomaterials. 

The strategy of self-assembly could be applied to open up developments in molecular-based nanomaterials. We believe that the combination of ionic liquids and biomolecules, organic molecular self-assemblies and inorganic nanomaterials, can lead to new dimensions in materials science. 

Abstract This review describes how the unique nanostructures of water-in-oU (W/0), oil-in-water (0/W) and bicontinuous microemulsions have been used for the syntheses of some organic and inorganic nanomaterials. Polymer nanoparticles of diameter approximately 10-50 nm can easily be obtained, not only from the polymerization of monomers in all three types of microemulsions, but also from aWinsor l-like system. A Winsor 1-like system with a semi-continuous process can be used to produce microlatexes with high weight ratios of polymer to surfactant (up to 25). On the other hand, to form inorganic nanoparticles, it is best to carry out the appropriate chemical reactions in W/0- and bicontinuous microemulsions. 

Since numerous papers have been published on the preparation of inorganic nanomaterials by micro emulsions, we do not intend to review all of them here. As examples, we will describe how inverse microemulsions can be used to pre-... 

In fhis chapfer, we discussed fhe s)mfhesis and properfies of rare earth inorganic nanomaterials. Due to the limited space, we did not discuss the metallic rare earth nanomaterials, however, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, and Tm metals are ferromagnetic, each with a magnetic moment per atom... 

Inorganic nanomaterials have attracted considerable attention owing to their novel physical and chemical properties that arise from size rednction and the potential applications in diverse areas. Moreover, these materials can also be nsed as... 

As various organic monomers, such as acrylamide, acrylonitrile, vinyl acetate, maleic acid and styrene, can polymerize at the same time as forming inorganic nanomaterials, various kinds of polymer-inorganic nanocomposites can be prepared at room temperature by a y-irradiation synthesis method. 

Cindrella L, Kannan AM, Ahmad R, Thommes M (2009) Surface modification of gas diffusion layers by inorganic nanomaterials for performance enhancement of proton exchange membrane fuel cells at low RH conditions. Int J Hydrogen Energ 34 6377-6383 Kannan AM, Kanagala P, Veedu V (2009) Development of carbon nanotubes based gas diffusion layers by in situ chemical vapour deposition process for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. J Power Sources 192 297-303... 

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