Tailored nano-size effects

Notably, the use of heteronuclear surface carbonyl species can lead to the preparation of well-defined supported bimetallic entities that can be used as model catalysts to study the promoter effect of a second metal. The close intimacy achieved between the two metals in the surface carbonyl species is related to the structural characteristics and catalytic properties of the final catalyst In the preparation of supported, tailored, multi-component catalysts, the use of metal carbonyl surface species still deserves to be studied to further explore the exciting field of nano-sized entities in catalysis. 

Fabrication of nano-sized metallic clusters on the surfaces and die study of their catalytic properties are a hot topic in electrocatalysis, for both tailoring new catalysts and understanding the interplay between the structure and catalytic activity (including possible mesoscopic effects) in the existing catalysts. From the dreams about the invisible we may thus come back to eardi, and ask ourselves whether the images of these clusters represent the reality. The question is motivated by often-met differences in the shapes of the clusters prescribed by STM and by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), by miraculous double clusters, etc. 

A promising strategy towards stable and catalyticaUy active metal colloids is their preparation inside the core of micelles formed by amphiphilic block copolymers. This strategy offers a number of advantages (i) micelles represent a nano-structured environment which can be exactly tailored by block copolymer synthesis (ii) polymers act as effective steric stabilizer ]36] (iii) metal leaching might be avoided (iv) micelles allow control over particle size, size distribution and particle solubility [37] and (v) micelles are also supposed to effect catalytic activity and selectivity [38]. 

The integrated DLS device provides an example of a measurement tool tailored to nano-scale structure determination in fluids, e.g., polymers induced to form specific assemblies in selective solvents. There is, however, a critical need to understand the behavior of polymers and other interfacial modifiers at the interface of immiscible fluids, such as surfactants in oil-water mixtures. Typical measurement methods used to determine the interfacial tension in such mixtures tend to be time-consuming and had been described as a major barrier to systematic surveys of variable space in libraries of interfacial modifiers. Critical information relating to the behavior of such mixtures, for example, in the effective removal of soil from clothing, would be available simply by measuring interfacial tension (ILT ) for immiscible solutions with different droplet sizes, a variable not accessible by drop-volume or pendant drop techniques [107]. 

Semiconductors in nano-crystallized form exhibit markedly different electrical, optical and structural properties as compared to those in the bulk form [1-10]. Out of these, the ones suited as phosphor host material show considerable size dependent luminescence properties when an impurity is doped in a quantum-confined structure. The impurity incorporation transfers the dominant recombination route from the surface states to impurity states. If the impurity-induced transition can be localized as in the case of the transition metals or the rare earth elements, the radiative efficiency of the impurity- induced emission increases significantly. The emission and decay characteristics of the phosphors are, therefore, modified in nanocrystallized form. Also, the continuous shift of the absorption edge to higher energy due to quantum confinement effect, imparts these materials a degree of tailorability. Obviously, all these attributes of a doped nanocrystalline phosphor material are very attractive for optoelectronic device applications. 

The formation of noble metal nanoparticle (Ag, Au, Pt)-embedded PDMS composites have been reported by a simple one-step method [46]. These nano composites exhibit the combined properties of metal and polymers, e.g., elasticity, strength, antibacterials effectiveness, etc. In addition, the properties of the nano composites can be tailored by varing the size, shape, distribution and relative concentration of metal nanoparticles in polymer matrix [52]. 

---