ABSTRACT
In the size range of approximately 1-100 nm (cf. Chapter 1), significant changes of material properties can be observed, which have the potential for a targeted functional optimization of technological components. Physical material properties of a solid-state body, like electric conductivity, magnetism, fluorescence, strength or stability, change fundamentally with the number and arrangement of the interacting matter components at the nanoscale. With regard to chemical material properties, the ratio of reactive surface atoms and rather inert atoms inside a solid matter increases rigorously within the transition to nanoscaled structures. Thus certain nanoporous substances may have specific surfaces of more than thousand square meters per gram. In biology nanostructured objects also play a vital role, since nearly all biological processes are controlled by nanoscaled structure components, like nucleic acids, proteins, and other cell constituents. Here, nanotechnology enables new approaches in medical therapy (e.g. in the field of intelligent systems for the targeted drug delivery), in regenerative medicine (improved implants or skin-/bone substitution) and in diagnostics (optimized in vitro rapid tests, contrast agents, etc.). Another promising research field of nanotechnology is the technical utilization of selforganization processes, where on the basis of chemical interaction and molecular detection mechanisms, individual molecules are composed to larger units. Through property changes of nanostructured materials, it is possible to optimize functionality and properties of almost any
material class. Table 3.1 shows some examples of the multitude of achievable effects and property improvements through the application of nanomaterials in various application fields.
