Instead of finding nanoscale particles and structures with good properties through serendipity, we now seek to design them to order. Furthermore, novel structures and fundamentally new properties and processes can be obtained. We are witnessing an explosion of revolutionary discoveries at nanoscale. First, the small size itself is of great potential benefit. The creation of modern information technology, for example, was made possible by systematically reducing the size of devices on a chip, thereby increasing the processing capability of a single chip.
Composites are mixtures of particles of different types.
Second, it is important to be able to control and alter nanoscale structures of materials. By so doing, one can often improve the properties of materials without changing their chemical composition. That is, the same molecules are present, but their physical arrangement is changed. Second, with the ability to control and alter nanoscale structures of materials we can often improve or profoundly change the properties and phenomena in materials without changing their chemical composition. That is, the same molecules are present, but their physical arrangement is changed.