From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nanoscale structure of material
The DNA structure at left (schematic shown) will self-assemble into the structure visualized by
atomic force microscopy
at right. Image from Strong.
[1]
A
nanostructure
is a
structure
of intermediate size between
microscopic
and
molecular
structures
. Nanostructural detail is
microstructure
at
nanoscale
.
In describing nanostructures, it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensions in the volume of an object which are on the
nanoscale
.
Nanotextured surfaces
have
one dimension
on the nanoscale, i.e., only the thickness of the surface of an object is between 0.1 and 100 nm. Nanotubes have
two dimensions
on the nanoscale, i.e., the diameter of the tube is between 0.1 and 100 nm; its length can be far more. Finally, spherical
nanoparticles
have
three dimensions
on the nanoscale, i.e., the particle is between 0.1 and 100 nm in each spatial dimension. The terms nanoparticles and
ultrafine particles
(UFP) are often used synonymously although UFP can reach into the micrometre range. The term
nanostructure
is often used when referring to magnetic technology.
Nanoscale structure in biology is often called
ultrastructure
.
Properties of nanoscale objects and ensembles of these objects are widely studied in physics.
[2]
List of nanostructures
[
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]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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External links
[
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