Recent Advances in Nanotechnology: An Overview

Abstract

Advanced materials can be obtained by changing the chemical composition of the components. The bulk properties of such materials can be predicted with great accuracy. On the other hand, controlling the size and shape of the components in nano scale also leads to new advanced materials. However, these nanostructures would have properties quite different from the bulk properties of the same material systems due to quantum size effects and to surface reconstructions. To this end, one may consider the field of nanotechnology as the laboratory of quantum effects. The building blocks of nanotechnology, so-called isolated nanostructures, may be created by synthesis, by forming clusters, by self-assembly, by modifying molecular structures already available in nature, or by initiating local reactions using extremely fine probes. As a further step down the line, isolated nanostructures may be assembled into much larger functional complexes. But, some of the properties of the isolated nanostructures may be lost in the process. So, it is extremely difficult to design such complexes to function in a predictable way even if the properties of the building blocks are precisely known.