ABSTRACT
Nanomaterials are increasingly used in a wide range of applications in science, engineering, technology, and medicine. Properties of nanomaterials can differ significantly from those of the bulk structured materials. Currently, nanomaterials are used in various fields such as, carbon black particles for wear resistant automobile tires; nanofibers for insulation and reinforcement of composites; iron oxide for magnetic disk drives and audio-video tapes; nano-Zinc oxides and Titanium as sun shields for UV-rays and so on. The products of nanotechnology (dental bonding agents and wound dressing) are available in the markets. Numerous techniques are employed to characterize the material and a systematic application of one or more techniques among them leads to a complete understanding of the nanomaterial. These techniques involve Auger-electron microscopy, dielectric spectrometry, electron microscopy, elemental trace analysis, indentation testing, mass spectrometry, optical techniques, particle counting, scanning probe microscopy, X-ray analysis and so on. In this chapter, authors have explored selected characterization techniques that are useful for the basic nanotechnologist, who work on nanomaterials.
