Introduction to nanomaterials: synthesis and applications

Abstract Nanomaterials have become one of the most promising topics in different fields, such as physics, chemistry, engineering, and biology, with many breakthroughs that will change the direction of nanotechnology advances in large range of applications. The term “nanomaterials” is employed to describe the creation and exploitation of materials with at least one dimension in the size range from approximately 1–100 nm. The origin of the term “nano” comes from the Greek word “nanos” (or Latin “nanus”), meaning “Dwarf,” but scientifically “nano” means one in a billion. This chapter provides a brief introduction on the general aspect of nanomaterials and their applications. The different synthesis methods of nanomaterials will also be discussed in this chapter.