Abstract:
The word has its origin in Greek “nanos” or Latin “nanus”, meaning “Dwarf”.
Nano refers to the power in 10−9
, simply, one billionth. Usually it is the length scale
and therefore a nanometer, which is on the scale of atomic diameters. For comparison, a human hair (see Figure 1.1) is about 100,000 nanometers thick! Nanoscience
refers to the science and manipulation of chemical and biological structures with
dimensions in the range from 1-100 nanometers. Nanoscience building blocks may
consist of anything from a few hundred atoms to millions of atoms, bearing properties that are not only fundamentally different from the bulk but also size dependent.
Thus, nanoscience is about creating new chemical and biological nanostructures,
uncovering and understanding their novel properties, and ultimately about learning
how to organize these new nanostructures into larger and more complex functional
structures and devices. In other words, it is a new way of thinking about building
up complex materials and devices by exquisite control of the functionality of matter
and its assembly at the nanometer-length scale.
