ABSTRACT
Materials can be made from several types of elements, either in the pure elemental form or in the form of compounds and composites. Generally, bulk materials can be classied broadly as metals, semiconductors, and insulators. And when any of these materials is produced in the nanometer scale, each displays shape-/size-dependent properties. ese new properties have the potential to provide enormous opportunities for both scientists and engineers to create many novel applications that are normally not possible with conventional bulk materials. Many of the nanometer-scale properties (e.g., size, shape, surface structure, and chemical composition) have only been deciphered since the advent of advanced microscopic techniques, which has enabled researchers to precisely measure and directly visualize materials at the atomic scale in real time, something impossible just a few decades ago. And, even more impressive is the ability of these characterization techniques to give us a glimpse of materials and processes in their own localized micro-/ nanoscopic environment. For example, techniques based
on scanning probe microscopy can be applied to study the electrolytic corrosion of aluminum by chloride ions at the atomic scale in real time.
