Abstract:
Nanomaterials, or materials at nanometric dimensions, show properties that are
completely different from their bulk counterparts, due to a high surface to volume ratio,
and the possible appearance of quantum effects.[1] Examples of nanomaterials include
zero-dimensional materials like molecules and nanoparticles,[2, 3] one-dimensional
materials like nanowires, nanotubes, nanoribbons,[3–6] and two-dimensional materials
such as monolayers and surfaces.[7, 8]
The conceptual origin of the broad area of nanoscience and technology, can
possibly be traced back to Nobel laureate physicist Prof. Richard P. Feynman’s 1959
lecture, ‘There’s plenty of room at the bottom’,[9] where he indicated that it might be
possible to manipulate atoms and molecules to change the properties of materials. The
field of nanoscience got a major boost with the discovery of the scanning tunneling
microscope in 1981,[10] and the atomic force microscope in 1982,[11] which enabled
experimentalists to ‘directly’ observe phenomena such as surface reconstruction, defect
formation, adsorption, nanocatalysis, etc.[12–14] Advances in computational power
due to rapid development in semiconductor technology in line with Moore’s law,[15]
also aided the discovery of new materials with novel properties.
