Synthesis, Preparation and Applications of Nanostructured Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Nanostructured materials, or nanomaterials, have basic structural units on the nanometer scale (10⁻⁹ meters). Their physicochemical properties depend strongly on these dimensions and often differ significantly from those of their larger-scale counterparts. Nanomaterials have attracted significant interest because their unusual properties can lead to new and surprising applications.

Crystalline nanomaterials generally melt at much lower temperatures than materials with larger crystal sizes, can be sintered at lower temperatures, and have reduced lattice parameters. Some metastable phases of nanoceramic materials can also persist at room temperature. These examples highlight just a few of the many property changes observed in nanomaterials compared to those with microscopic or macroscopic units.

The unusual properties of nanostructured materials arise from (i) the small size of their basic structural units, often similar to or smaller than certain characteristic parameters—such as the de Broglie wavelength (the electron’s wave-like behavior at the nanoscale), the distance for forming a Frank–Reed dislocation loop (minimum length for a specific crystal defect), the thickness of a charge space layer (region of distributed electric charge near a surface), the mean free path of electrons (average distance an electron travels before scattering), the maximum magnetic domain size (largest region with uniform magnetization), and others—and (ii) the predominant effects of surface morphology (shape and structure). The first point explains the existence of nanostructured materials with often unexpected electrical, magnetic, or optical properties, including nano-semiconductors made of “quantum dots” (nanoscale particles with discrete energy levels). The second point highlights how different morphologies and exposed crystallographic planes in nanomaterials can, in general, strongly affect surface chemistry and, in particular, catalytic activity. This joint work reviews results from our laboratories on synthesis routes, structural investigations (mainly using synchrotron radiation techniques), determinations of relevant physicochemical properties, and the applications of nanomaterials in the development of solid oxide fuel cells and gas sensors.

This Special Issue will present the latest achievements in synthesis, preparation, and applications of nanostructured materials, testing the properties of nanocompounds, and materials produced using various manufacturing and growing technologies like ALD, sputtering, MBE, HFCVD, etc., including heat treatment, as well as considerations regarding the relationship between innovative technological parameters, manufacturing technologies, and welding and production methods; the microstructure whose evolution they influence; and the properties of the obtained products.

This Special Issue, titled “Synthesis, Preparation and Applications of Nanostructured Materials”, will serve as a valuable resource for materials scientists, engineers, and technologists, offering a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between the nanostructures and their properties.

Topics include the following: nanostructured materials applied to medicine, smart devices, nanodevices, nanoscience, novel synthesis techniques, characterization of nanomaterials by using EXAFS, XPS, HRTEM, SEM, Auger, LEED, RHEED, Raman, nanomagnetism, and nanofibers.

Dr. Jose Alberto Duarte-Moller
Prof. Dr. Arcady Zhukov
Guest Editors

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• nanomaterials
• nanostructures
• nanomagnetism
• nanodevices
• smart nanomaterials
• nanotechnology