Abstract:
Owing to their high surface-to-volume ratio, their small size and the high number of intrinsic defects, nanoobjects such as nanoparticles exhibit properties that go beyond typical bulk materials. In particular, nanogranular systems with nanoparticles as their fundamental building units exhibit electronic and optical properties that differ from their atom-assembled counterparts. As such, nanoparticles are promising building units for applications in catalysis, optics and functional electronics.