Nano-scale material

Carbon nanotubes have been studied extensively in relation to fullerenes, and together with fullerenes have opened a new science and technology field on nano scale materials. This book aims to cover recent research and development in this area, and so provide a eonvenient reference tool for all researchers in this field. It is also hoped that this book can serve to stimulate future work on carbon nanotubes. 

The development of catalysts includes both practical and theoretical knowledge and experience with a palette of disciplines known to the chemical engineer, e.g. inorganic chemistry, physical and chemical characterisation techniques, nano-scale materials, unit operations, chemical reaction engineering, catalyst kinetics, and transport phenomena. 

More generally it may be said (Cahn 1990) that in nano-scale materials a variety of size-related effects may be included by controlling the size of the constituent components. The scheme adopted in the review by Gonsalves el al. (2000) to describe the techniques of preparation of nano-structures will be summarized in the following paragraphs in order to give a broad outline of different methods. 

TrimetalUc complexes can be regarded as the first steps in the construction of nano-scale materials from simple molecular species. As the complex aggregates become larger, some of the factors dominating their electron-transfer properties may differ from the factors important in their bimetallic analogs. The observation of vibronic phase effects observed in the dicyano-complex-bridged Ru(NH3)5 + /Ru(NH3)5 + complexes may be a hint of this. 

The most important role of HRTEM in the structural investigation of oxides is the detection of microstructures derived from their basic structures, such as superstructures, various defects and also nano-scale materials, where XRD and neutron diffraction are less powerful since their intensities are very low. 

The development of synthetic methods is one of the fundamental aspects to the understanding and development of nano-scale materials. The novel properties and numerous applications of nano-scale materials have encouraged many researchers to invent and explore preparation methods that allow control over such parameters as particle size, shape, size distributions and composition. While considerable progress has taken place, one of the major challenges is the development of a synthetic toolbox which would afford access to size and shape control of structures on the nano-scale and conversely allow scientists to study the effects these parameters impart to the chemical and physical properties of the nanoparticles. 

As is hopefully obvious from this chapter and the entire book, the science of metal oxides is vast and requires synergistic contributions from multiple disciplines if the potential of nano-scale metal oxides is to be reached. As the general field of nano-scale materials develops, metal oxides are likely to be at the forefront owing to their stabihty and the intensive studies that have already been reported for their bulk counterparts. 

This article focuses on a specific class of such novel nano-scaled materials, nanocrystalline Ti02, and its photocatalytic properties. The title of this article encompasses three main terms ( (photo)catalysis, nanocrystalline, and Ti02 ) which, individually, stand for very important areas of scientific research and of, perhaps even more important, technological applications. Their synergistic combination, as... 

Since the brilliant conceptual proposal by Warshel and Levitt [1], the hybrid method of QM/MM has been extensively applied to simulate some very large systems, such as enzymes, nano-scale materials etc. The purpose of this chapter is not to give a complete review of the QM/MM methods, because the developments and applications of QM/MM methods have been well documented and reviewed in many previous articles, for example. Refs. [2-5]. We try to in this manuscript introduce one of recent developed semi-empirical methods, self consistent charge density tight binding (SCC-DFTB) method [6], and its applications to enzymatic processes when integrated with CHARMM force field. 

Precise control of nanometer-scale structures has become one of the most important subjects in both physics and chemistry. Of many nano-scale materials, ultraflne particles are of intense interest as they are expected to show unique properties which fine particles have never possessed. Usually ultrafme particles are prepared by grinding an already fine particle. We discuss here the synthesis of such molecular-based ultraflne particles through supramolecular self-assembly of 10 simple molecular components. Further, their stability and inclusion and catalytic properties will be described. 

We here showed that for bentonite clay, we can determine the nano-scale material properties such as diffusion coefficient and viscosity by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and extend the microscale characteristics to the macroscale behavior by the multiscale homogenization analysis (HA) method. A seepage flow and diffusion problem is treated. The micro/macro problem can be simulated well by this procedure if we know the microscale geometrical characteristics. 

In order to make biopolymers more attractive for commercial end-use applications, it is necessary to enhance the thermomechanical properties through the utilisation of nanocomposite technology. In the last decade, polymer nanocomposites have become a global research interest, due to the superior advances in polymer characteristics by the addition of nano-scale materials (preferably in the range 10-100 nm) into the polymer matrix [13]. Due to the nanoscopic dimensions and extreme aspect ratios of the nanofillers, this results in six interrelated characteristics, which defines the type of nanocomposite. These are (1) low-percolation threshold ( 0.1-2 vol%), (2) particle to particle correlation (orientation and position) arising... 

An efficient, facile, and economical method for the preparation of benzofuran derivatives has been developed using copper iodide (Cul) NPs as catalyst in aqueous media [34], The products were obtained in excellent yields and the reaction times were significantly reduced in comparison with using bulk Cul. The present protocol represents a simple and remarkable method for the three-component reactions of aldehyde, amine, and phenylacetylene in order to synthesize some 2,3-di-substituted benzofuran derivatives in the presence of novel nano-scale materials (Scheme 5.6). 

The film prepared from the block copolymer is photoconductive suitable for apphcations in photovoltaic or electronic devices [164]. Similarly, random copolymers with similar donor and acceptor groups have also been disclosed [165]. Structures obtained from self-assembly possesses in selective solvents can be fixed by covalent linkages and the resulting nano-scaled materials conserve their structural identity also in nonselective solvents. Several synthetic... 

Chapter 3, by Chen and collaborators, concentrates on the spectroscopic investigation of the SEI layer on anodes as well as cathodes of LIBs, including the nanometer-sized SnO anode, and the nano-MgO modified LiCoOa cathode. The effect of nano scaled materials on the performance of LIBs is well discussed using combination of spectral techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). 

McHenry, M. E. and Laughlin, D. E. (2000), Nano-scale materials development for future magnetic applications, Acta Materialia 48, 223-238. 

Active Materials, Nano scale Materials, Composites, Glass and Fundamentals... 

With the natural maturing of the fields of structural ceramics, the present symposium has focused on nano-scale materials, composites, thin films and coatings as well as glass. The symposium also addressed new issues on fundamentals of fracture mechanics and contact mechanics, and a session on reliability and standardization. 

Tsapikouni, T. S., Missirlis, Y. F. (2008). Protein-material interactions from micro-to-nano scale. Materials Science and Engineering B, 152, 2-7. http //dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.mseb.2008.06.007. 

This work is part of an ongoing activity within the COST action MP0701 on Polymer and Composites Materials Multicomponent polymer and polymer composites systems from macro to nano scale materials". The Editor would like to thank all partners that have sponsored this book ... 

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