This book takes a "bottom-up" approach, beginning with atoms and molecules - molecular building blocks - and assembling them to build nanostructured materials. Coverage includes Carbon Nanotubes, Nanowires, and Diamondoids. The applications presented here will enable practitioners to design and build nanometer-scale systems. These concepts have far-reaching implications: from mechanical to chemical processes, from electronic components to ultra-fine sensors, from medicine to energy, and from pharmaceuticals to agriculture and food.

This book takes a "bottom-up" approach, beginning with atoms and molecules - molecular building blocks - and assembling them to build nanostructured materials. Coverage includes Carbon Nanotubes, Nanowires, and Diamondoids. The applications presented here will enable practitioners to design and build nanometer-scale systems. These concepts have far-reaching implications: from mechanical to chemical processes, from electronic components to ultra-fine sensors, from medicine to energy, and from pharmaceuticals to agriculture and food.

This 800-page premier book on energy focuses on energy sources, utilizations, legislations and sustainability as it relates to a state, a province, or a country, or a community within a state. This book presents various kinds of energy sources, ways to convert energy for end use, better use of energy towards conservation and energy- and environmental-sustainability. As a very proper model-state the authors chose the State of Illinois which has the largest overall fossil energy reserves, including the largest strippable bituminous coal reserves; the largest user of nuclear energy in USA and has also been investing in all kinds of renewable energies including wind energy, solar energy, biofuels, geothermal energy, and various energy storage options. In the authors' opinion, State of Illinois is a pioneer in legislations for proper development and use of all kinds of energy. Their motivation to do this project was to educate the public (including students, energy engineers and planers, as well as state- and country-wide policy makers) about all aspects of energy.In this book, the authors present various energy sources, conversions technologies, and conservation possibilities. In every case, the authors have presented various options available for a country, for a state, or for a community to achieve its goal of energy sufficiency, clean environment and as a result, sustainability. Variety of schemes related to each energy source and its related conversion technologies are presented and sustainability of renewable energy sources is discussed. All the possible energy sources including coal, natural gas, petroleum, nuclear, solar, wind, biofuels and geothermal energy are presented in this book, as well as energy storage options. The authors have also presented various ways of dealing with carbon dioxide, which is produced from fossil fuels combustion, including its collection, transportation, storage and sequestration. The energy storage systems presented in this book will facilitate reliable and full integration of renewable power to the grid.

Diamondoids are cage-like, ultra stable, saturated ringed hydrocarbons, which have a diamond-like structure consisting of a number of six-member carbon rings fused together. Adamantane is the cage compound prototype and the simplest diamondoid molecule. Diamondoids Molecules aims to present these fascinating substances in a novel fashion. The more intriguing facets of diamondoid molecules are comprehensively exposed and discussed, bringing state-of-the-art information to the reader, along with the history, fundamentals and perspectives of diamondoid science and technology. This groundbreaking book, especially devoted to diamondoid molecules, is of critical importance to the global techno- scientific community, and will be of great interest in many research fields such as chemistry, physics, material science, geology, and biological sciences. Moreover, it will attract readers from industrial, government and environmental agencies as well as scholars.

During the past decade, research and development in the area of synthesis and applications of different nanostructured titanium dioxide have become tremendous. This book briefly describes properties, production, modification and applications of nanostructured titanium dioxide focusing in particular on photocatalytic activity. The physicochemical properties of nanostructured titanium dioxide are highlighted and the links between properties and applications are emphasized. The preparation of TiO2 nanomaterials, including nanoparticles, nanorods, nanowires, nanosheets, nanofibers, and nanotubes are primarily categorized by their preparation method (sol-gel and hydrothermal processes). Examples of early applications of nanostructured titanium dioxide in dye-sensitized solar cells, hydrogen production and storage, sensors, rechargeable batteries, electrocatalysis, self-cleaning and antibacterial surfaces and photocatalytic cancer treatment are reviewed. The review of modifications of TiO2 nanomaterials is mainly focused on the research related to the modifications of the optical properties of TiO2 nanomaterials, since many applications of TiO2 nanomaterials are closely related to their optical properties. Photocatalytic removal of various pollutants using pure TiO2 nanomaterials, TiO2-based nanoclays and non-metal doped nanostructured TiO2 are also discussed.