Analytical metrology for nanomaterials: Present achievements and future challenges

Abstract Nanoscience and nanotechnology have emerged in recent years as revolutionary trends in almost all fields of activity. Their impact has taken place in the analytical science, too. Firstly, because the use of nanomaterials as analytical tools is more and more frequent and secondly, because the analytical control of nanomaterials in a wide variety of samples is required. In both aspects, analytical metrology for nanomaterials is involved as the scientific discipline responsible for providing reliable information (based on experimental measurements) to end users. This review presents a general view of the present achievements and the future challenges of analytical metrology for nanomaterials. Selected references and a critical discussion are reported for illustrating this important role of the metrology applied to nano-world.