Abstract:
The prefix nano has originated from the Latin word nanus, meaning dwarf
[1]. According to the dictionary definitions, nano refers to one?billionth [2] and hence
is used to designate extreme smallness. It is hard to imagine though just how small a
nanometre is! For example, take a human hair, which when cut along its length 1 lakh
times gives a diameter of 1 nm which is the diameter of a single walled carbon
nanotube. In fact that is how a 10 metre building compares to the hair (see Figure I.1).
Nanoscale is the length scale where materials property is size & shape dependent [3].
Nanoscience deals with studying materials having at least one of their dimensions in
the range of 1 nm to few 100 nm [4]. Nanoscience is not just physics, chemistry,
engineering or biology, it is all of them [5]. The applied stream of nanoscience is
nanotechnology which deals with the manipulation, control and integration of nanoobjects
for designing the nanoscale architectures [4].
