Nanotechnology and its Applications in Energy Sector

The introduction of new materials every decade has paved the way for the advancement of knowledge in science, Nanomaterials appear to have taken this development in science to new heights and these materials are expected to revolutionize the application. If science in every sector of human endeavor. It has become necessary that this topic is introduced in our educational curriculum at an early stage. This will be possible only when appropriate text book materials made available to our teaching and taught community. Present effort is to satisfy this need. Present presentation is made to reflect the many sectors of human endeavor where the nanomaterials can be expected to play a significant role in near future. It has been envisaged that the famous silicon material can be substituted by appropriate nanomaterials, in addition to conventional applications like catalysis and optical properties where the modern nanomaterials can be expected to influence enormously.

Materials in the nanometer size range commonly exhibit fundamentally new behavior. Nanomaterials include clusters of atoms, grains that are less than 100nm in size, fibres that are less than 100nm in diameter, films that are less than 100nm in thickness, nanoholes and composite that are combination of these, composition can be any combination of naturally occurring elements with the more important composition being silicates, carbides, nitrides, oxides metals, organic polymers and composites. Nanomatrerials will have good energy implication but considerable challenges existing regarding the integration of basic research and commercialization.