Mechanochemistry as a branch of solid state chemistry enquires into processes which proceed in solids due to the application of mechanical energy. This provides a thorough, up to date overview of mechanochemistry of solids and minerals. Applications of mechanochemistry in nanoscience with special impact on nanogeoscience are described. Selected advanced identification methods, most frequently applied in nanoscience, are described as well as the advantage of mechanochemical approach in minerals engineering. Examples of industrial applications are given. Mechanochemical technology is being applied in many industrial fields: powder metallurgy (synthesis of nanometals, alloys and nanocompounds), building industry (activation of cements), chemical industry (solid waste treatment, catalyst synthesis, coal ashes utilization), minerals engineering (ore enrichment, enhancement of processes of extractive metallurgy), agriculture industry (solubility increase of fertilizers), and pharmaceutical industry (improvement of solubility and bioavailability of drugs).

This reference serves as an introduction to newcomers to mechanochemistry, and encourages more experienced researchers to broaden their knowledge and discover novel applications in the field.

Nanotechnology, as shortly described as the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale, is one of the most dynamic and promising industries, receiving a great deal of attention from researchers, business leaders, investors, and policymakers around the world. In Making It to the Forefront, Nesli Aydogan-Duda has assembled a distinguished group of authors to analyze the particular challenges and opportunities of nanotechnology emergence and management in the developing world. In so doing, they address the issues from several angles, ranging from cultural issues to capital markets, industrial clusters to government policy and legal structure. Drawing from in-depth research and case studies in Turkey, Latin America, India, China, and Iran, and a comparison with the development of the industry in the United states, the authors present a cross-cultural approach, with particular emphasis on the strategic nature of the nanotechnology industry for economic development, consumer welfare, and homeland security. Among the topics they consider are the importance of knowledge transfer from universities to the market and, more generally, the interface between science and its commercialization-and the institutional infrastructure that is necessary to maximize the potential of science and technology. In doing so, the authors provide unprecedented theoretical and empirical contributions to the study of nanotechnology, and, more generally, insight into the complex business, political, and cultural environment that must be established in order for such an industry to thrive in the context of a developing country.

This book will introduce the concept of molecular communications and nanonetworks. The publication addresses why nanoscale communication is needed for the sophisticated nano and biotechnology applications. The text introduces the frontier applications of the molecular communication and nanonetworks. The book examines the molecular communication types called active, passive, and gap junction molecular communications. The author presents the molecular transmitter, receiver, encoding and decoding mechanisms used in these systems. Discussing the molecular communication system model and looking at the unique characteristics of practical molecular communication systems and these chemical reactions and their effects on the communication performance. Finally, the book examines the point-to-point, broadcast, and multiple-access molecular channel and shows two promising application examples of the nanonetworks. The first application example is the body area nanonetworks used in nanomedicine. the second nanonetwork application example, i.e., NanoSensor Networks (NSNs) with Molecular Communication.

The rapidly developing field of nanomaterials has expanded in many commercial areas. More recent studies have begun to provide a foundation for understanding how nanomaterials influence cells and how they also can serve as methodological tools for studies in medicine and cell biology, including research into stem cells. Recent investigations have shown affects of nanomaterials on specific subcellular structures, such as the actin-based brush border network in cells with an increasing emphasis on the barrier function of epithelial tissues. While other studies have shown involvement of nanoparticles in specific cytoplasmic signal transduction events such as the rise in intracellular free calcium, a signaling event known to regulate many changes in cell architecture and function. In parallel, nanomaterials are increasingly used in medicine for drug delivery, treatment of cancer and an increasing number of new applications. This book investigates these areas and also includes new methods for assessment in cell biology and medicine.

This volume contains papers presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) Dynamic Interactions in Quantum Dot Systems held at Hotel Atrium in Puszczykowo, near Poznan, Poland, May 16-19,2002. The term low-dimensional systems, which is used in the title of this volume, refers to those systems which contain at least one dimension that is intermediate between those characteristic ofatoms/molecules and those ofthe bulk material. Depending on how many dimensions lay within this range, we generally speak of quantum wells, quantum wires, and quantum dots. As such an intermediate state, some properties of low-dimensional systems are very different to those of their molecular and bulk counterparts. These properties generally include optical, electronic, and magnetic properties, and all these are partially covered in this book. The main goal of the workshop was to discuss the actual state of the art in the broad area ofnanotechnology. The initial focus was on the innovative synthesis of nanomaterials and their properties such as: quantum size effects, superparamagnetism, or field emission. These topics lead us into the various field based interactions including plasmon- magnetic spin- and exciton coupling. The newer, more sophisticated methods for characterization of nanomaterials were discussed, as well as the methods for possible industrial applications. In general, chemists and physicists, as well as experts on both theory and experiments on nanosized regime structures were brought together, to discuss the general phenomena underlying their fields ofinterest from different points ofview.

This book features a special subsection of Nanomedicine, an application of nanotech nology to achieve breakthroughs in healthcare. It exploits the improved and often novel physical, chemical and biological properties of materials only existent at the nanometer scale. As a consequence of small scale, nanosystems in most cases are efficiently uptaken by cells and appear to act at the intracellular level. Nanotechnology has the potential to improve diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of diseases, and includes targeted drug delivery and regenerative medicine; it creates new tools and methods that impact sig nificantly upon existing conservative practices. This volume is a collection of authoritative reviews. In the introductory section we define the field (intracellular delivery). Then, the fundamental routes of nanode livery devices, cellular uptake, types of delivery devices, particularly in terms of localized cellular delivery, both for small drug molecules, macromolecular drugs and genes; at the academic and applied levels, are covered. The following section is dedicated to enhancing delivery via special targeting motifs followed by the introduction of different types of intracellular nanodelivery devices (e.g. a brief description of their chemistry) and ways of producing these different devices. Finally, we put special emphasis on particular disease states and on other biomedical applications, whilst diagnostic and sensing issues are also included. Intracellular delivery / therapy is a highly topical which will stir great inter est. Intracellular delivery enables much more efficient drug delivery since the impact (on different organelles and sites) is intracellular as the drug is not supplied externally within the blood stream. There is great potential for targeted delivery with improved localized delivery and efficacy.

The future focus of nanotechnology will be on realizing new functions over greater scales. This book describes the creation of nano- and microscale structures and functions by controlling temperature, light, pressure, or carrier injections. It includes novel nano-integration technologies such as self-organization of surface nanostructures, quantum well structures, microlithography and micromachines, as well as new techniques of laser spectroscopy and new computational methods.

The study of electrochemical nanotechnology has emerged as researchers apply electrochemistry to nanoscience and nanotechnology. These two related volumes in the Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry Series review recent developments and breakthroughs in the specific application of electrochemistry and nanotechnology to biology and medicine. Internationally renowned experts contribute chapters that address both fundamental and practical aspects of several key emerging technologies in biomedicine, such as the processing of new biomaterials, biofunctionalization of surfaces, characterization of biomaterials, discovery of novel phenomena and biological processes occurring at the molecular level.

This book examines the characteristics of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells with a focus on deriving realistic finite element models. The book also explains in detail how to set up measuring systems, data analysis, and PEM Fuel Cells' static and dynamic characteristics. Covered in detail are design and operation principles such as polarization phenomenon, thermodynamic analysis, and overall voltage; failure modes and mechanisms such as permanent faults, membrane degradation, and water management; and modelling and numerical simulation including semi-empirical, one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional models. It is appropriate for graduate students, researchers, and engineers who work with the design and reliability of hydrogen fuel cells, in particular proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

One of the biggest challenges is managing environmental, health and safety risks of nanomaterials. Yet, the information necessary to assess their long term effects is scarce. The second International Symposium, 2005, Minneapolis, Minnesota, with many more attendants than the first, and with contributions from academics, industry, policymakers, non-government organizations and even lawyers, established that, while there is international concern over how to ensure safe nanotech-workplaces, there is also progress being made in developing the required knowledge. This volume, a reprint from a special issue of the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, mainly draws from work presented at the 2005 symposium, diverse but united by the need for a holistic view of nanotechnology and risk.

Nanotechnology, clean technology, and geoengineering span the scale of human ingenuity, from the imperceptibly small to the unimaginably large. Yet they are united by a commonality of ethics that permeates how and why they are developed, and how the resulting consequences are managed. The articles in this volume provide a comprehensive account of current thinking around the ethics of development and use within each of the technological domains, and addresses challenges and opportunities that cut across all three. In particular, the collection provides unique insights into the ethics of 'noumenal' technologies - technologies that are impossible to see or detect or conceive of with human senses or conventional tools. This collection will be of relevance to anyone who is actively involved with ensuring the responsible and sustainable development of nanotechnology, geoengineering or clean technology.

Metallic (magnetic and non-magnetic) nanocrystalline materials have been known for over ten years but only recent developments in the research into those complex alloys and their metastable amorphous precursors have created a need to summarize the most important accomplishments in the field. This book is a collection of articles on various aspects of metallic nanocrystalline materials, and an attempt to address this above need.

The main focus of the papers is on the new issues that emerge in the studies of nanocrystalline materials, and, in particular, on (i) new compositions of the alloys, (ii) properties of conventional nanocrystalline materials, (iii) modeling and simulations, (iv) preparation methods, (v) experimental techniques of measurements, and (vi) different modern applications. Interesting phenomena of the physics of nanocrystalline materials are a consequence of the effects induced by the nanocrystalline structure. They include interface physics, the influence of the grain boundaries, the averaging of magnetic anisotropy by exchange interactions, the decrease in exchange length, and the existence of a minimum two-phase structure at the atomic scale.

Attention is also paid to the special character of the local atomic ordering and to the corresponding interatomic bonding as well as to anomalies and particularities of electron density distributions, and to the formation of metastable, nanocrystalline (or quasi-crystalline) phases built from exceptionally small grains with special properties. Another important focus of attention are new classes of materials which are not based on new compositions, but rather on the original and special crystalline structure in thenanoscale.

This book focuses on important interfacial phenomena, such as interfacial potential and interfacial multi-functionality, responsible for determining the fate of nanoparticles inside the biological milieu. Additionally, this book explores the role of surface defects in photocatalytic nanoparticles in defining the nanoparticle interaction to biological membrane and cytotoxic propensity.The authors describe the interfacial assembly of peptide/protein on conformational/functional dynamics of the peptide/protein, which may be adopted as an approach to moderate the protein misfolding diseases.

Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology promise to have major impacts on human health, wealth, and peace in the coming decades. Among the expected breakthroughs are orders of magnitude increases in computer efficiency, human organ restoration using engineered tissue, designer' materials created from directed assembly of atoms and molecules, and the emergence of entirely new phenomena in chemistry and physics. This book includes a collection of essays by leading scientists, engineers, and social scientists reviewing the possible uses of these impending technical developments in various industrial, medical, and national security applications, and the corresponding ethical, legal, social, economic, and educational issues that they raise. The report outlines potential areas for research into societal implications of nanotechnology, as well as some preliminary suggestions for how potential positive impacts of nanotechnology can be maximized, while minimizing any possible negative impacts, real or imagined. This book also provides the beginning of a blueprint for how one should address second-order consequences of the new technology, either positive implications or potential risks.

This book gives detailed information about the fabrication, properties and applications of nanoporous alumina. Nanoporous anodic alumina prepared by low-cost, simple and scalable electrochemical anodization process due to its unique structure and properties have attracted several thousand publications across many disciplines including nanotechnology, materials science, engineering, optics, electronics and medicine. The book incorporates several themes starting from the understanding fundamental principles of the formation nanopores and theoretical models of the pore growth. The book then focuses on describing soft and hard modification techniques for surface and structural modification of pore structures to tailor specific sensing, transport and optical properties of nano porous alumina required for diverse applications. These broad applications including optical biosensing, electrochemical DNA biosensing, molecular separation, optofluidics and drug delivery are reviewed in separated book chapters. The book appeals to researchers, industry professionals and high-level students.

Nanoscale structures and materials have been explored in many biological applications because of their novel and impressive physical and chemical properties. Such properties allow remarkable opportunities to study and interact with complex biological processes. This book analyses the state of the art of piezoelectric nanomaterials and introduces their applications in the biomedical field. Despite their impressive potentials, piezoelectric materials have not yet received significant attention for bio-applications. This book shows that the exploitation of piezoelectric nanoparticles in nanomedicine is possible and realistic, and their impressive physical properties can be useful for several applications, ranging from sensors and transducers for the detection of biomolecules to sensible substrates for tissue engineering or cell stimulation. The book also focuses on the preparation, characterization and bio-applications of piezoelectric nanoparticles.

The articles collected in this book cover a wide range of materials with extraordinary superconducting and magnetic properties. For many of the materials studied, strong electronic correlations provide a link between these two phenomena which were long thought to be highly antagonistic. Both the progress in our understanding of fundamental physical processes and the advances made towards the development of devices are reported here. The materials studied come in a variety of forms and shapes from bulk to epitaxial films, nano- and heterostructures down to those involving single molecules and double quantum dots. In some cases the structuring serves the study of bulk properties. More often it is the change of these properties with nanostructuring and the properties of different materials in close proximity with each other that are of key interest because of possible application of these materials or heterostructures to quantum computing and spintronics.

The union of covalent and noncovalent chemistries manifested in the mechanical bond represents one of the great chemical triumphs of the last half century. However, until recently, the preparation of mechanically interlocked compounds has often been an inefficient and limiting process. This thesis provides a detailed account of the great strides taken to increase the synthetic accessibility of donor-acceptor mechanically interlocked molecules by the application of highly efficient and ultra mild chemical transformations during their template-directed synthesis. These new departures in synthesis have indeed played a transformative role in that more complex, higher-order, and functional architectures - once only a dream - are now comfortably within reach. Specifically, the formation of mechanical bonds in higher order rotaxanes and catenanes has become ever easier through the use of highly efficient click chemistries. The resulting mechanically interlocked compounds are functional molecular media for a host of applications including information storage, mechanical actuation, and drug release.

This book focuses on chemical and nanophotonic technology to be used to develop novel nano-optical devices and systems. It begins with temperature- and photo-induced phase transition of ferromagnetic materials. Further topics include: energy transfer in artificial photosynthesis, homoepitaxial multiple quantum wells in ZnO, near-field photochemical etching and nanophotonic devices based on a nonadiabatic process and optical near-field energy transfer, respectively and polarization control in the optical near-field for optical information security. Taken as a whole, this overview will be a valuable resource for engineers and scientists working in the field of nano-electro-optics. Written for: Scientists, optical engineers and graduate students

This thesis presents studies on the interaction of soft materials like surfactants and proteins with hard silica nanomaterials. Due to its interdisciplinary nature it combines concepts from the fields of physical chemistry, nanoscience and materials science, yielding to fundamental insights into the structure-directing forces operating at the nano-scale. It is shown that the morphology of surfactant micellar aggregates adsorbed at the surface of nanoparticles and inside tubular nanopores can be tuned on demand by the co-adsorption of a surface modifier. The interaction of globular proteins with silica nanoparticles is dominated by electrostatic interactions and can be controlled by pH and ionic strength, while the bridging of nanoparticles by adsorbed protein molecules leads to large-scale hybrid aggregates of protein with the nanoparticles. Concepts emerging from the role of electrostatic interactions in the hetero-aggregation of nanoparticles with protein molecules are used for the co-assembly of charged microbeads into linear clusters and chains of controllable length.

The principal aim of this NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) "Nanostructured and Advanced Materials for Applications in Sensor, Optoelectronic and Photovoltaic Technology" was to present a contemporary overview of the field of nanostructured and advanced electronic materials. Nanotechnology is an emerging scientific field receiving significant worldwide attention. On a nanometer scale, materials or structures may possess new and unique physical properties. Some of these are now known to the scientific community, but there may well be many properties not yet known to us, rendering it as a fascinating area of research and a suitable subject for a NATO ASI. Yet another aspect of the field is the possibility for creating meta-stable phases with unconventional properties and the ultra-miniaturization of current devices, sensors, and machines. Such nanotechnological and related advanced materials have an extremely wide range of potential applications, viz. nanoscale electronics, sensors, optoelectronics, photonics, nano-biological systems, na- medicine, energy storage systems, etc. This is a wide-ranging subject area and therefore requires the formation of multi-disciplinary teams of physicists, chemists, materials scientists, engineers, molecular biologists, pharmacologists, and others to work together on the synthesis and processing of materials and structures, the understanding of their physical properties, the design and fabrication of devices, etc. Hence, in formulating our ASI, we adopted an int- disciplinary approach, bringing together recognised experts in the various fields while retaining a level of treatment accessible to those active in specific individual areas of research and development.

Discrete periodic structures play an important role in physics, and have opened up an exciting new area of investigation in recent years. Questions relating to the control of light in such structures still represent a major challenge. It is this highly active field that is addressed in the present thesis. Using the model system of a photorefractive nonlinearity that allows one to simultaneously create and control photonic lattices by light, the author obtains a comprehensive picture of the control of nonlinear and quantum optics phenomena in photonic lattices. He describes and demonstrates experimentally for the first time resonant transitions in two-dimensional hexagonal lattices, including Rabi oscillations and Landau-Zener tunneling, as well as the direct control and exploitation of these transitions. A particular highlight of this thesis is the study of soliton-cluster switching and control of Zener tunneling.

This book describes the use of modern micro- and nanofabrication technologies to develop improved tools for stimulating and recording electrical activity in neuronal networks. It provides an overview of the different ways in which the "nano-world" can be beneficial for neuroscientists, including improvement of mechanical adhesion of cells on electrodes, tight-sealed extracellular recordings or intracellular approaches with strongly reduced invasiveness and tools for localized electrical or optical stimulation in optogenetics experiments. Specific discussion of fabrication strategies is included, to provide a comprehensive guide to develop micro and nanostructured tools for biological applications. A perspective on integrating these devices with state-of-the-art technologies for large-scale in vitro and in vivo experiments completes the picture of neuronal interfacing with micro- and nanostructures.

This monograph solely investigates the Debye Screening Length (DSL) in semiconductors and their nano-structures. The materials considered are quantized structures of non-linear optical, III-V, II-VI, Ge, Te, Platinum Antimonide, stressed materials, Bismuth, GaP, Gallium Antimonide, II-V and Bismuth Telluride respectively. The DSL in opto-electronic materials and their quantum confined counterparts is studied in the presence of strong light waves and intense electric fields on the basis of newly formulated electron dispersion laws that control the studies of such quantum effect devices. The suggestions for the experimental determination of 2D and 3D DSL and the importance of measurement of band gap in optoelectronic materials under intense built-in electric field in nano devices and strong external photo excitation (for measuring photon induced physical properties) have also been discussed in this context. The influence of crossed electric and quantizing magnetic fields on the DSL and the DSL in heavily doped semiconductors and their nanostructures has been investigated. This monograph contains 150 open research problems which form the integral part of the text and are useful for both PhD students and researchers in the fields of solid-state sciences, materials science, nano-science and technology and allied fields in addition to the graduate courses in modern semiconductor nanostructures.