Engineered ‘Nanomaterials by design’ theoretical studies experimental validations current and future prospects

Abstract

Modulating the electron energy band structure of a nano crystalline material by varying its size, shape, and constituent species amounts to practically designing the nano size material building blocks for arriving at a known set of related physico-chemical properties in terms of the internal electronic structures for a given organization of the constituent species via covalent and non-covalent interactions operating at different length scales. In order to explore further possibilities of using synergistic combinations of nano structured materials derived from inorganic, organic and polymeric species particularly knowing through their chemical bonds involved in different forms, it is equally necessary to know about the interaction pathways among the constituent species, as mentioned above, in addition to the biomolecular species, where they form a variety of 3-d supramolecular organizations arising out of self-assembly and self-organization. After having a clear picture of these basic processes involved in the internal and external organization of the hierarchical supramolecular structures, the next step is to explore the prospects of incorporating some sort of intelligent features starting from using the biomolecular species like polypeptides, proteins and enzymes. What is emerging from the current developments taking place in the related areas can be foreseen from this review particularly viewed from material science point of view.