Nanoparticle

A nanoparticle which historically has included nanopowder, nanocluster, and nanocrystal is a small particle with at least one dimension less than 100 nm. This definition can be fleshed out further in order to remove ambiguity from future nano nomenclature. A nanoparticle is an amorphous or semicrystalline zero dimensional (0D) nano structure with at least one dimension between 10 and 100nm and a relatively large (≥ 15%) size dispersion. A nanocluster is an amorphous/semicrystalline nanostructure with at least one dimension being between 1-10nm and a narrow size distribution.This distinction is an extension of the term "cluster" which is used in inorganic/organometallic chemistry to indicate small molecular cages of fixed sizes. A nanopowder is an agglomeration of noncrystalline nanostructural subunits with at least one dimention less than 100nm. A nanocrystal is any nanomaterial with at least one dimension ≤ 100nm and that is singlecrystalline. Any particle which exhibits regions of crystallinity should be termed nanoparticle or nanocluster based on dimensions. Nanoparticle research is currently an area of intense scientific research, due to a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical, and electronic fields. The National Nanotechnology Initiative of the United States government has driven huge amounts of state funding exclusively for nanoparticle research.