One-dimensional nanomaterials, such as thin films
and engineered surfaces, have been developed and
used for decades in fields such as electronic device
manufacture, chemistry and engineering. In the silicon
integrated-circuit industry, for example, many devices
rely on thin films for their operation, and control of film
thicknesses approaching the atomic level is routine.
Monolayers (layers that are one atom or molecule deep)
are also routinely made and used in chemistry. The
formation and properties of these layers are reasonably
well understood from the atomic level upwards, even in
quite complex layers (such as lubricants). Advances are
being made in the control of the composition and
smoothness of surfaces, and the growth of films.
Engineered surfaces with tailored properties such as
large surface area or specific reactivity are used routinely
in a range of applications such as in fuel cells and
catalysts. The large surface area
provided by nanoparticles, together with their ability to
self assemble on a support surface, could be of use in all
of these applications.
Although they represent incremental developments,
surfaces with enhanced properties should find applications
throughout the chemicals and energy sectors. The
benefits could surpass the obvious economic and
resource savings achieved by higher activity and greater
selectivity in reactors and separation processes, to
enabling small-scale distributed processing (making
chemicals as close as possible to the point of use). There
is already a move in the chemical industry towards this.
Another use could be the small-scale, on-site production
of high value chemicals such as pharmaceuticals.
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