Nanoparticle research

Nanoparticle research is a very interesting field of science. The relationship between  structure and properties of materials is really fascinating, which has attracted much attention froom scientist from different discipline (material science, physics and chemistry). The magic things of nanoparticles is that its properties at nanoscale size is significantly different from its bulky counterparts. For example, titania (TiO2), at nanoscale (<30 nm), it is transparent and scatter UV light resulting in its popularity in cosmetic application. Research also found that CdS crystallites in the size range of a few nanometers does not exhibit the optical spectra of its bulk counterparts. Nowadays, the application of nanoparticles in society is so diverse, such as carbon black (20-50 nm) has been used mainly to reinforce rubber (for car tires), amorphous silica as a food additive E551, ZnO and TiO2 in cosmetic, nanoparticles in paint for car … Interestingly, the application of nanoparticles were started dated back to ancien time, for instant metal nanoparticles were used as color pigments in luster and glass technology, the usage of silver or copper nanoparticles in the outermost layer of the glaze, gold nanoparticles were used to introduce the red color to glass, in ruby glass (Lycurgus Cup in the British Museum). Excitingly, this cup appears with green color in daylight and change to red color when it was illuminated from insight the cup.

The systematic study of nanoparticles started by research of Michael Faraday (approximately 150 years ago) on the interaction of light with metal nanoparticles.

Because the foundation of nanoparticle research is based on the size-dependent properties of nanomaterials. The studies of nanoparticles link to the synthesis, the controlling of its size, shape , chemical composition and the assembly of nanoparticles. These jobs do not necessarily require to create new materials with totally new composition.

Application potential of nanoparticles is extremely vast, however, the way for nanoparticle to go from laboratory to commerce take very long time.

Material sciences

The traditional group of materials includes ceramics, metals and polymers. The development of sciences and engineering leading to new way of classifying of materials, such as biomaterials, composite materials, nanomaterials, semiconductors,  metals, alloys, superconductors, ceramics and polymers. 

Material scientist study the relationship between structure and properties of materials, how the materials are made, how to improve the materials, way to manufacture them...

Nowadays, our society depends heavily on materials which have been used in transportation, communication, information technology, photovoltaic energy generation, nuclear fusion energy. Especially, nano materials and nanotechnology are considered as a breakthrough in material science, where it enable us to create very small machine at molecular level, basic unit to develop quantum computer. We need materials to replace the human organs as well (implants, tissues, ...) as other types of medical applications (sensor, drug delivery ...).

The scope of materials science is very vast, it is multidisciplinary domain, encompasses physics, chemistry, biology and engineering. 

Pioneer in Surface science and some techniques

Surface science is a very large field, which included many subfield ... who working in surface science are multidisciplinary, and need to understand the basic science (in physics, chemistry or biology). There are many famous scientists devote their time and effort to advance our knowledge in surface science, the most important of them are:
Paul Sabatier in Hydrogenation
Fritz Haber in Haber process (a main industrial route to produce ammonia)
Ivring Langmuir (he worked in different subjects related to surface chemistry ... )
Gerthard Ertl  (who studied the adsorption of hydrogen atom on surface of palladium at molecular level)

There are many techniques have been widely used in surface science. The most advanced of them are low energy electron diffraction (LEED), ultra high vacuum chamber (UHV), sum frequency generation (SFG) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Apart from that, vibrational spectroscopy (IR and Raman), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and mass spectroscopy (MS) are essential to understand the surface chemistry and the composition of interested materials.

Generally, there are two challenges that surface scientists must overcome are the pressure gap and the materials gap. Those gaps reflect the differences in condition of experiment in laboratory and that of reality. Surface scientists need to bridge those gaps, and make the experiments closer to the real condition in terms of pressure (at normal pressure or high pressure) and in terms of materials (nanomaterials in the order of 1-10nm).

Change is constant

Heraclitus (c. 535 - c. 475 BCE)
The only constant in the universe is change.
No man ever steps in the same river twice.

Surface sciences

Surface sciences is the first field I have been thinking about long time ago. I will invest more time to learn about it. However, sciences are linked to each other, you therefore can not learn this not that, thus all must be combined together.
I hope everything will be good.
Let's start from now, learn sciences for fun and for life.