These proceedings focus on nanostructured and non-crystalline materials, including amorphous and multiphase systems, fine particles and granular systems, thin films, polymers and other disordered systems. The topics covered are: fabrication and processing techniques; relaxation, diffusive processes and molecular motions; structure and crystallization phenomena; electric and magnetic properties; and technological applications.

The structural properties of materials play a fundamental role in the determination of their suitability for a specific application. This book is intended as a contribution to the efforts to increase the knowledge of the influence exerted on the properties of materials by their crystalline or amorphous structure. To this aim, some of the materials that are most promising for their use in different technological fields have been studied, namely graphene, titanium oxide, several types of functional metal oxides, porphyrinic crystalline solids, plasma deposited polymers, amorphous silicon, as well as hydrogenated amorphous carbon. These materials have been presented by the authors for their use in different applications, including microelectronics, photonics, and biomedicine.

Annotation Nanotechnology is an area of science and technology where dimensions and tolerances in the range of 0.1 nm to 100nm play a critical role. Nanotechnology has opened up new worlds of opportunity. It encompasses precision engineering as well as electronics, electromechanical systems and mainstream biomedical applications in areas as diverse as gene therapy, drug delivery and novel drug discovery techniques. Nanostructured materials present exciting opportunities for manipulating structure and properties on the nanometer scale. The ability to engineer novel structures at the molecular level has led to unprecedented opportunities for materials design. This new book provides detailed insights into the synthesis/structure and property relationships of nanostructured materials. A valuable book for materials scientists, mechanical and electronic engineers and medical researchers. CONTENTS Special properties resulting from nanodimensionality; Nanoparticle technologies; Control of molecular assemblies; Functional organic inorganic nanocomposites; Molecular modelling of nanomorphology in polymers; Nanodimensionality and ionic transport; Multi scale simulation of nanionic polymer systems; Nanoengineering in metallic systems; Characterisation of nanometallic systems with NMR; Mechanical behaviour of metallic nanolaminates; Mechanics of nanocomposite structures; Preparation, properties and performance of Nanocrystalline ceramics; Novel properties from nanoceramics; Hydrogen storage in nanostructured materials; Nanofabrication.

This book is a sequel to the first volume of The Chemistry of Nanostructured Materials. It covers the most exciting developments in the nanostructured materials field for the past five to ten years, with a particular focus on their applications in energy conversion and energy storage. Prominent authors of recognized authority in the field contribute their expertise in the review chapters.

Metallic (magnetic and non-magnetic) nanocrystalline materials have been known for over ten years but only recent developments in the research into those complex alloys and their metastable amorphous precursors have created a need to summarize the most important accomplishments in the field. This book is a collection of articles on various aspects of metallic nanocrystalline materials, and an attempt to address this above need. The main focus of the papers is put on the new issues that emerge in the studies of nanocrystalline materials, and, in particular, on (i) new compositions of the alloys, (ii) properties of conventional nanocrystalline materials, (iii) modeling and simulations, (iv) preparation methods, (v) experimental techniques of measurements, and (vi) different modern applications. Interesting phenomena of the physics of nanocrystalline materials are a consequence of the effects induced by the nanocrystalline structure. They include interface physics, the influence of the grain boundaries, the averaging of magnetic anisotropy by exchange interactions, the decrease in exchange length, and the existence of a minimum two-phase structure at the atomic scale. Attention is also paid to the special character of the local atomic ordering and to the corresponding interatomic bonding as well as to anomalies and particularities of electron density distributions, and to the formation of metastable, nanocrystalline (or quasi-crystalline) phases built from exceptionally small grains with special properties. Another important focus of attention are new classes of materials which are not based on new compositions, but rather on the original and special crystalline structure in the nanoscale.

This book discusses the early stages of the development of nanostructures, including synthesis techniques, growth mechanisms, the physics and chemistry of nanostructured materials, various innovative characterization techniques, the need for functionalization and different functionalization methods as well as the various properties of nanostructured materials. It focuses on the applications of nanostructured materials, such as mechanical applications, nanoelectronics and microelectronic devices, nano-optics, nanophotonics and nano-optoelectronics, as well as piezoelectric, agriculture, biomedical and, environmental remediation applications, and anti-microbial and antibacterial properties. Further, it includes a chapter on nanomaterial research developments, highlighting work on the life-cycle analysis of nanostructured materials and toxicity aspects.