Chapter 2:Fundamentals of Hierarchical Nanostructures

Nanostructures have various unique characteristics: thermal, mechanical, electronic, optoelectronic, optical, chemical, and so on. These characteristics are very different from those of their bulk counterparts due to the large surface area and quantum confinement effects of nanomaterials. The so called “properties” of materials will not be constant any more at a small scale below certain critical values but will be more or less size dependent. This provides huge potential for the development of various functional novel devices. In this chapter, the unique characteristics of nanostructures will be discussed.