ABSTRACT
Nanoscience and nanotechnology together represent one of the “hottest” research areas in science and engineering at the start of the twenty-rst century. With new advances in instrumentation and theory, scientists have come to realize that within the range of 1 to ∼100 billionths of a meter, known as the nanoscale, materials may display properties and behaviors that are unique and oen cannot be described using our knowledge of either bulk systems or individual molecules. ¤is is not necessarily a surprise to soil scientists who have known for many decades that ne-grained soil minerals such as aluminosilicate clays and ferrihydrite tend to have special properties that are distinct from those of larger minerals. ¤e soil science community also has taken a leadership role in understanding the structures and behaviors of complex nanoscale organic matter components such as humic and fulvic acids.
