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.

Even though there is no generally accepted definition of nanotechnologies to be defined as distinct discipline there is an emerging consensus that their advent and development is a growing in importance factor of the contemporary and future technological civilization. One of these most fundamental issues we are confronted with is the compatibility with life itself. From single cell organisms to humans, carbon is a key building block of all molecular structures of life. In contrast the man created electronic industry to build on other elements, of which silicon is the most common. Both carbon and silicon create molecular chains, although different in their internal structure. All life is built from carbon-based chains. As long as the man built technological products do not directly interfere with the physiology of life the associated risks from them are relatively easy to identify. They are primarily in the environmental pollution and the possibility of upsetting the natural balance of biocoenosis, on a planetary scale. The basic life functions are still not directly subverted. We can use TV, computers, drive cars and use other technological utilities without fear of direct interference with our cellular functions. This is in particular because all these technological utilities are many orders of magnitude larger than typical scales of biological activity. Most of biological activity, from fermentative catalysis to DNA replication takes place on nanoscale. The situation is radically different when the technological goals are building nanoscale size products. All biological processes take place on nanoscale.

This book arises from the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) titled "Functionalized Nanoscale Materials, Devices, and Systems for chem.-bio Sensors, Photonics, and Energy Generation and Storage" held in Sinaia, Romania in June 2007. It comprises a variety of invited contributions by highly experienced educators, scientists, and industrialists, and is structured to cover important aspects of the field, from underlying principles, synthesis routes, characterizations, applications, and detailed considerations of commercial viability. In addition, the book consists of a selection of contributed articles describing various aspects of their current research and development activities. Several related topics ranging from nanomaterial in chemical-biological sensors, to energy storage and generation devices, and to environmental protection and pollution remediation. Several top-down (attrition) and bottoms-up (self-assembly) approaches to prepare nanomaterials are discussed. In addition, several synthesis routes, viz. synthesis using new laser systems generating ultra-short (ns, ps, fs, and very recently, as pulses) with very high quality beams that allow very accurate focusing, provide unique tools for handling and processing nanomaterials in the form of nanocoatings, nanopowders, nanotubes, and other advanced structures are also included in the book. It will be of considerable interest and value to those already pursuing or considering careers in the field of nanostructured materials and nanotechnology, in general. It also serves as a valuable source of information for those interested in related aspects of the field, such as science and technology of thin film materials and devices.

Even though there is no generally accepted definition of nanotechnologies to be defined as distinct discipline there is an emerging consensus that their advent and development is a growing in importance factor of the contemporary and future technological civilization. One of these most fundamental issues we are confronted with is the compatibility with life itself. From single cell organisms to humans, carbon is a key building block of all molecular structures of life. In contrast the man created electronic industry to build on other elements, of which silicon is the most common. Both carbon and silicon create molecular chains, although different in their internal structure. All life is built from carbon-based chains. As long as the man built technological products do not directly interfere with the physiology of life the associated risks from them are relatively easy to identify. They are primarily in the environmental pollution and the possibility of upsetting the natural balance of biocoenosis, on a planetary scale. The basic life functions are still not directly subverted. We can use TV, computers, drive cars and use other technological utilities without fear of direct interference with our cellular functions. This is in particular because all these technological utilities are many orders of magnitude larger than typical scales of biological activity. Most of biological activity, from fermentative catalysis to DNA replication takes place on nanoscale. The situation is radically different when the technological goals are building nanoscale size products. All biological processes take place on nanoscale.

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.

This book arises from the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) titled "Functionalized Nanoscale Materials, Devices, and Systems for chem.-bio Sensors, Photonics, and Energy Generation and Storage" held in Sinaia, Romania in June 2007. It comprises a variety of invited contributions by highly experienced educators, scientists, and industrialists, and is structured to cover important aspects of the field, from underlying principles, synthesis routes, characterizations, applications, and detailed considerations of commercial viability. In addition, the book consists of a selection of contributed articles describing various aspects of their current research and development activities. Several related topics ranging from nanomaterial in chemical-biological sensors, to energy storage and generation devices, and to environmental protection and pollution remediation. Several top-down (attrition) and bottoms-up (self-assembly) approaches to prepare nanomaterials are discussed. In addition, several synthesis routes, viz. synthesis using new laser systems generating ultra-short (ns, ps, fs, and very recently, as pulses) with very high quality beams that allow very accurate focusing, provide unique tools for handling and processing nanomaterials in the form of nanocoatings, nanopowders, nanotubes, and other advanced structures are also included in the book. It will be of considerable interest and value to those already pursuing or considering careers in the field of nanostructured materials and nanotechnology, in general. It also serves as a valuable source of information for those interested in related aspects of the field, such as science and technology of thin film materials and devices.