A nanostructure is a
structure
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such a ...
of intermediate size between
microscopic
The microscopic scale () is the scale of objects and events smaller than those that can easily be seen by the naked eye, requiring a lens or microscope to see them clearly. In physics, the microscopic scale is sometimes regarded as the scale be ...
and
molecular
A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bio ...
structure
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such a ...
s. Nanostructural detail is
microstructure
Microstructure is the very small scale structure of a material, defined as the structure of a prepared surface of material as revealed by an optical microscope above 25× magnification. The microstructure of a material (such as metals, polymers ...
at
nanoscale.
In describing nanostructures, it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensions in the volume of an object which are on the
nanoscale.
Nanotextured surfaces have ''one dimension'' on the nanoscale, i.e., only the thickness of the surface of an object is between 0.1 and 100 nm. Nanotubes have ''two dimensions'' on the nanoscale, i.e., the diameter of the tube is between 0.1 and 100 nm; its length can be far more. Finally, spherical
nanoparticles have ''three dimensions'' on the nanoscale, i.e., the particle is between 0.1 and 100 nm in each spatial dimension. The terms nanoparticles and
ultrafine particles (UFP) are often used synonymously although UFP can reach into the micrometre range. The term ''nanostructure'' is often used when referring to magnetic technology.
Nanoscale structure in biology is often called
ultrastructure.
Properties of nanoscale objects and ensembles of these objects are widely studied in physics.
List of nanostructures
See also
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Nanomaterials
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Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale).
Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to n ...
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Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal ...
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Tube-based nanostructures Tube-based nanostructures are nanolattices made of connected tubes and exhibit nanoscale organization above the molecular level.
Lattices
Lattices are structures formed of arrays of uniformly sized cells. Ceramic lattice nanostructures have been f ...
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List of software for nanostructures modeling
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Nanocar
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NanoPutian
References
External links
Applications of Nanoparticles
Nanomaterials
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