PROPERTY AMPLIFICATION

What's particularly exciting in the study of nanoparticles, nanostructured materials, and nanodevices is their ability to also add value to materials and products through enhancement of specific properties, such as the following:

• Mechanical strength. Nanostructured powders have been produced by plasma processing where the reactor vaporizes coarse metal particles (Froes 1998, 105-6); by combustion synthesis where redox reactions take place at elevated temperatures, followed by quenching; and by mechanical alloying with gas atomization. When nanocrystalline powders achieved by these means are compacted and applied as a coating, they lend significant strength and ductility to a variety of conventional materials such as ceramic, composites, and metal alloys.
• Superconductivity. Brus (1996) describes the nature of the superconductivity effect in detail. It involves a deposition of nanocrystals on substrates, leading to improved optical and electrical properties.
• Covering power. Because nanostructuring increases the number of active sites-there are many more atoms per grain boundary-the enhanced surface area leads to a reduced material requirement, which in turn can lower cost (Solomaon and Hawthorne 1983).
• Ability to incorporate high cost materials. Expensive materials such as colorants and drugs may be effectively dispersed in small and controlled quantities through nanostructuring (Schnur 1994).
• Environmental value. Improvements in environmental impact are achieved by utilizing nanostructure particulates in coatings and thus eliminating the requirement for toxic solvents. By eliminating hazardous wastes, nanocoatings can both reduce a company's disposal costs and improve its environmental position.

Thus, nanostructured dispersions and coatings can significantly reduce material costs and improve performance and functionality in a large variety of applications. In all of the sites the WTEC panel visited in Europe, Russia, and Japan, research groups were interested in achieving one or more of the properties listed above.