Structure and Properties of Inorganic Nanoparticles

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the latest advances in the field of inorganic nanoparticles (INPs). INPs are now involved in several applications within biomedicine, catalysis, environmental remediation and food science, just to mention a few areas. INPs are generally oxides, sulphides, halides, nitrides, alloys and intermetallic compounds, hence their chemical compositions are closely related to those of inorganic materials. Yet, their breath of chemical variety is narrower in the nanoworld and complex materials, such as mixed-metal compounds, showing that chemical flexibility and a variety of important physico/chemical properties are less widespread. Synthesis and characterisation techniques for INPs are also drawn from solid-state chemistry as well as doping strategies, which are vastly used to tailor the properties of inorganic solids and create new compounds. Doping is less utilised in INPs, yet there are additional tailoring tools specific to nanoparticles, such as the control of size and shape of the INPs and the engineering of the surface via functionalisation with molecules to add specific properties. Widening the overlap between nanoparticle-specific aspects and the area of traditional inorganic solids will lead to an expanded toolbox of synthetic and doping strategies and hence to an expanded range of chemical composition and perhaps unexpected properties for INPs.

This Special Issue will focus mainly, but not exclusively, on the following: (1) new synthetic strategies for the synthesis and/or functionalisation of known INPs, (2) strategies for doping of INPs towards tailoring of physico/chemical properties, (3) a deeper understanding of current synthetic procedures, (4) synthetic routes leading to new compositions to translate traditional inorganic materials into the nanoworld, (5) functionalisation strategies to engineer the INP’s surfaces and confer specific properties to the INP systems and (6) nano-toxicology aspects that out-weigh the risks that INPs may pose to the environment in relation to their benefits to society.

Dr. M Grazia Francesconi
Guest Editor

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• Synthesis and doping of inorganic nanoparticles
• Surface engineering/functionalisation of inorganic nanoparticles
• Properties of inorganic nanoparticles
• Applications of inorganic nanoparticles