Nanostructuring Materials towards Conventionally Unachievable Combination of Desired Properties   (Editorial)

Dr. Dongyang Li, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2V4, Canada

When the size of a particle or the size of grains in a solid is reduced to the nanometer scale, unusual changes in its properties may occur [1-3]. For example, a nano-sized particle of silica could be electrically conductive while a silver particle may become non-conductive when its size is smaller than 20 nm, which are ascribed to the surface effect and spatial confinement to electrons. Supermagnetism can be obtained when the size of a ferromagnetic particle is reduced to nanometer scale at which only a single domain exists. Such variations in property with object’s dimensional reduction at nanometer scale provide great opportunities to tailor materials for superior properties that cannot be achieved using conventional techniques. In particular, some properties are opposite to each other and cannot be improved simultaneously using conventional methods. Nanotechnology has made this achievable.

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