Editorial: Nanostructured Glass: Properties and Applications

Nanotechnology is playing an important role in both fundamental science and advanced technology. It remains an interesting topic for researchers in different fields. However, most of the materials in use are in crystalline form. When the grain size of the bulk crystalline materials down to the nanometer range (<100 nm), they show interesting properties compared to the bulk of the same chemical compositions. The grain boundaries of the crystalline materials have different atomic arrangements compared to the grain regions. The nano-crystalline materials contain a high volume of grain boundaries due to the nanometer-sized grains. Hence, nano-crystalline materials demonstrated exciting properties by adjusting grain boundaries’ density and controlling the grains’ size down to the nanometer. Another most popular material, i.e., glass has been extensively used since civilization; apart from crystalline materials. Glass has unique structural features compared to crystalline materials. It has a disordered atomic structure and is thermodynamically unstable (has a non-equilibrium, or metastable state). It does not have any distinct microstructure like the crystalline materials. However, several advancements have been materialized recently to understand the structure and thermodynamics of the glass at the nanoscale. Though, understanding the structure and properties of the nanostructured glassy materials is at a preliminary stage. It would be the next generation revolution in nanotechnology if substantial research on the nanostructure of glassy materials can be encouraged. Recently, an exciting concept of nanoglass is developed similar to nano-crystalline materials. These nanoglass has been synthesized by the compaction of nanosized glassy particles and glass-glass interfaces created between the glassy nanoparticles. It is evidenced that nanoglass consist of a nanometer-sized glassy core (5–20 nm) and an interface (1–5 nm). Interestingly, there are different atomic arrangements between the core and the interface regions of the nanoglass. This unique microstructure feature of nanoglass leads to exciting properties that are not present in the conventional glasses of the same chemical compositions. There is an evolving glass research interest in improving the properties and functions through modification of its nanostructure. It has been reported that the nanostructured glassy materials show enhanced mechanical and magnetic properties compared to the bulk glasses. In this collection of articles, three contributions from different authors have been published. In the first published work (Sharma et al.), authors have reported the deformation character of as-prepared and structurally relaxed Cu-Zr based nanoglasses are explored by nanoand micro-indentation experiments. The as-prepared nanoglass are structurally relaxed by annealing them near the glass transition temperature (Tg) without changing its amorphous nature. It was found that the indentation load against displacement curves of structurally relaxed samples revealed distinct Edited and reviewed by: Valeria Cannillo, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy