Metal Clusters and Nanoalloys: From Modeling to applications

M. M. MARISCAL; O. A. OVIEDO; E. P. M. LEIVA

Springer

Año: 2012 p. 400

978-1-4614-3267-8

Preface Exceeding the limits of the academic realm where it started, the nano wave or current nanotechnology trend has already reached the industrial and governmental markets. And nanotechnology has thus become a key area of public interest, since not only researchers -but also politicians and economists- have realized the social and economic implications of the developments in this field. In fact, ?Think nano to earn giga? will probably become one of the favorite expressions in the business world in the future, as it is widely accepted that -after microtechnology- nanotechnology is the technology of the next century. Metallic and semiconducting nanoparticles -subject of the present book- currently represent one of the most tangible applications in nanotechnology. From the point of view of academic research, nanoparticles show remarkable properties due to the transition from the atomic quantum mechanical behavior to the classical behavior which governs bulk materials, making them ideal candidates for testing and developing new theories. In particular, metallic nanoparticles seem to be promising materials for potential applications in various technological areas related to different spheres of human life, ranging from catalysis of chemical reactions to cancer detection and healing. As it usually happens in cases of hasty technological developments, the urge for generating these new nano-materials is so strong that, in many cases, things are put to work -and they work pretty well!-, without much wondering about the subtle reasons behind such result. After all, life evolution, a typical nano-phenomenon, just happened that way. This lack of modeling of nano-phenomena -as compared to the abundant experimental research- is of course not on purpose, but rather the result of the intrinsic complexity of modeling systems and situations where chemical and physical phenomena are strongly entangled. For instance, light absorption by nanoparticles, a typical physical phenomenon, may be found to be strongly modified by the chemical nature of molecules chemically bound to them. Thus, the quantum physical tools usually used to study the collective excitation of electrons in a metal must be coupled with the quantum chemical tools that describe binding in molecules, a challenge addressed to in one of the present chapters. Approaching and awaking the interest of experimental researchers for the newest modeling tools applied to metal nanoparticles is one of the main goals of the present book. Thus, in ten chapters written by experts in the field, we present the most advanced techniques employed to model and simulate metallic nanoparticles, and emphasize on their application to experimental results. These tools range from statistical mechanics and molecular dynamic simulations to very specific quantum mechanical calculations. Since many of the topics represent cutting edge research developments, we hope this work will help fill the existing gap between theory and experiment of nano-systems, promoting fruitful exchanges between both approaches.