Abstract:
Nanoscale materials are defined as materials where at least one dimension is in the
nanometer scale approximately 1-100 nm. The reduction in the spatial dimension, in
a particular crystallographic direction within a structure leads to changes in
fundamental properties of the material. The changes which occur in electronic
properties due to quantum size effects influence the physical properties and they can
be altered by tuning the dimensionality.[1-4] The properties of a material at mesoscopic
scale are governed not only by nature of its chemical bonds but also by its
dimensionality and shape.[5, 6] The application of nanomaterials can be traced even
before the development of modern science and technology. In 1857, Michael Faraday
published a paper on how metal nanoparticles affect the color of church windows. The
real burst of nanotechnology happened in the late 1990s when sophisticated
instrumentation became available to characterize the nanomaterials.
