Hierarchical Colloidal Nanostructures – from Fundamentals to Applications

Abstract

In order for our society to stay competitive in terms of computing power, sensing, and alternative energy new materials are required. Material science is one of the pillars of innovation in modern culture. In respect of future optical and electrical applications there is a need for active components with higher efficiencies and lower costs. Nanostructured materials such as nanoparticles, nanowires, carbon nanotubes, graphene and nanosheets are considered to be among the most promising candidates for faster and less expensive electronic devices and more efficient solar cells and fuel cells. This is mostly due to their low-dimensional nature which opens new intriguing possibilities for technology. The synthesis of inorganic nanostructures defined by colloidal chemistry has developed strongly and became a versatile tool in various fields of application: Colloidal nanoparticles are used as fluorescence markers in medicine and biology and in the latest generation of TV sets semiconducting nanoparticles are used in the background illumination systems, which demonstrates the bright future of colloidal nanomaterials. Further, colloidal nanostructures of various dimensionality and hierarchy can be used as inexpensive transistors, photo-detectors, chemical sensors, thermoelectric materials and as solar cells. Exciting properties include Coulomb blockade, adjustable electric transport, blinking, and continuously tunable optical properties. In order to produce nanomaterials with new, tailored properties it is indispensable to understand the mechanisms of synthesis, the optical processes and the electrical transport in detail.In this issue of Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie a representative crosssection of researchers active in Germany or with close relations report on their interesting, recent results in synthesis, assembly, and characterization. In the first contribution, the group of Victor Puntes demonstrates a simple room-temperature approach for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles and how to gain control over size