Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 30 April 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5671, pp. 692 - 693
DOI: 10.1126/science.1097604
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

CHEMISTRY:
Chemistry with Nanoscale Perfection

Jillian M. Buriak

Chemical structuring of bulk materials is fraught with imperfection resulting from inherent defects and inhomogeneities. Nanocrystals, on the other hand, are remarkable for their crystalline perfection and controllable chemical behavior. In her Perspective, Buriak discusses results reported in the same issue by Yin et al. on the fabrication of hollow nanostructures by means of a phenomenon known as the Kirkendall effect. In this synthesis route, one reactant diffuses quickly into another, leaving behind vacancies that fuse into larger voids. With nanocrystalline materials, the result is precisely formed nanostructures, a finding that may have implications for fundamental nanochemistry and for applications of structured compounds.

The author is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, and National Institute for Nanotechnology, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G2, Canada. E-mail: jburiak{at}ualberta.ca

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)