For the uninitiated, Nanoscience deals with materials that falls within the size regime of 1 - 100nm and typically consisting of 100 to 10000 atoms (Recall that 1 mol = 6x1023 atoms). The laws of classical chemistry (i.e for bulk materials) and quantum chemistry (i.e. for small number of atoms) were once thought to be all it needs to describe the world... until nano made its entrance.
Although nanomaterials mark a transition range between between a single atom and a macroscopic bulk sample, they exist very much in a realm of their own, exhibiting unique properties. (e.g. surface plasmon resonance, Coloumb blockade, increased catalytic performance etc.) This is primarily due to:
1. high dispersity (surface area/ volume ratio) &
2. size quantization of its charge carriers. Spatial confinement of the charge carriers (e- for metals, exitons for semiconductors) causes the valance and conduction bands to split into discrete, quantized levels similar to those in atoms/molecules.
These properties, as well as the versatility with which they can be manipulated, have rendered nanomaterials immense potential for application in many fields including nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, photovoltaics & catalysis.
1. high dispersity (surface area/ volume ratio) &
2. size quantization of its charge carriers. Spatial confinement of the charge carriers (e- for metals, exitons for semiconductors) causes the valance and conduction bands to split into discrete, quantized levels similar to those in atoms/molecules.
These properties, as well as the versatility with which they can be manipulated, have rendered nanomaterials immense potential for application in many fields including nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, photovoltaics & catalysis.
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