Nanomaterials

This course presents a review of the state of the art of materials structured at the nanometric level. Characterisation at the nanoscale can be achieved by a variety of electron, ion beam and scanning probe methodologies and these, together with more specialist methods such as position sensitive atom probe and spectroscopic ellipsometry, are introduced. Nanoscale structure in metals, polymers and ceramics may have a marked influence on structure-property relationships with the possibility of providing behaviour not seen in coarser scale structures. In addition certain new classes of materials may be produced at this size level, for example C60, carbon nanotubes and a variety of colloidal structures. The processing and applications of nanofluidics are also dealt with in some detail. Finally, the commercial perspective on the larger scale production of nanomaterials is given to illustrate the move of this class of materials from laboratory to plant.