Book ReviewDOI: 10.1002/adma.200502583

Hans-Jörg Fecht andMatthias Werner (Eds.)

The Nano–MicroInterface: Bridgingthe Micro andNano Worlds.Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2004,XXIV + 327 pp., hardcover, Euro 99.00,ISBN 3-527-30978-0.

The editors, Fecht and Werner, presentan unusually effective and timely bookdealing with a variety of aspects regard-ing science and technology on the micro-and nanoscale, and the critically impor-tant nano–micro interface. The work isdivided into three subsections, dealingwith I) research funding and commercia-lization of nanotechnology, II) state-of-the art nano- and microscale researchleading towards new technologies, andIII) current or nearly commercial appli-cations of nano- and microscale materi-als. The combination of these three com-ponents produces a compelling read thatcuts across pure science, funding/market-ing, and applications. Addressing applica-tions is especially appreciated, as this pro-vides nice examples to address the oftenasked questions regarding “what realproducts are coming out of nanoscience”.

Mihail Roco sets the stage in Part Iby opening with a review of the USNational Nanotechnology Initiative, in-cluding data that reflects the substantialincrease in government support for ef-forts in nanoscience, and the impressiveincrease in patent activity in nanotech-nology, especially in the US, from 1980to the present. What follows are briefand thoughtful overviews of relatednanoscience, nanotechnology, and com-mercialization across the U.S., Europe,and Asian countries. These chaptersalso provide perspective on existingcommercialization efforts, for examplein the automobile, optics, and protectiveequipment industries.

Part II, Fundamentals and Technolo-gy, offers a diverse range of topics, fromscaling effects across the micro-to-nano-size scales, to measurements and char-acterization, to research activities incatalysis, biomimetics, optoelectronics,and semiconductors. The “Lab-on-a-Chip” chapter by Schafer et al. is partic-ularly topical, as it highlights the de-manding design criteria associated withelectrically controlled microcompart-ments in microfluidic devices that re-quire appropriately tailored layers interms of surface and interfacial interac-tions, and functional components withinthe device. Schlogl’s chapter on hetero-geneous catalysis is of fundamental im-portance to nanotechnology, given thekey historical role of nanoparticulatematerials on catalytic processes. Inte-grated into this chapter is the synthesisof materials that are on the nanometerscale in one dimension, but microscopicin other dimensions, such as are foundin many of the beautiful inorganic andcarbon-based nanorods and nanotubesprepared today. Nanostructured materi-als also carry importance in biology, in-cluding the application of inorganic ma-terials as structural components in thebody. Franke’s chapter highlights invivo applications of nanoscale titaniumstructures in humans and animals. Bio-compatibility, mechanical properties,and surface roughness remain key fea-

tures. Kamins offers an account of an-other key area of micro/nanotechnologyin his chapter on semiconductor nano-wires, where efforts towards controlledgrowth and positioning of nanowires areleading to new approaches to transistorsand sensors. The importance of interfa-cial control is emphasized, by applyingthe lessons learned in silicon-based de-vices used currently to current efforts inimplementing nanowires into devices.

Part III covers a wide variety of inter-esting topics where materials andtechniques specific to the nano- and mi-croscale are used independently or sy-nergistically in applications. The versa-tility of nanoparticles is once againapparent, for example in the applicationof metal oxide nanoparticles to environ-mental gas sensors, as components ofNafion membrane composites in directmethanol fuel cells, and in poly(ethyleneoxide)-based lithium ion polymeric bat-teries. The effect of decreased radius ofcurvature (sub 5 nm) of diamond-basedcutting edges is shown to drastically re-duce cutting artifacts, a topic of wide-spread interest in polymer and materialsscience. The preparation of designer mi-cro/nano materials is exemplified in ex-amples of controlled surface propertiesthat dictate wetting characteristics, andin the use of LIGA (lithography, galva-noformung und abformung) technologyfor structuring photoresists using holo-graphic-interference techniques.

Taken together, this collection of arti-cles provides a nice breadth of importantcurrent strategies and applicationsacross the micro- and nanoscale spec-trum, and will be of interest to thoseworking on both fundamental and ap-plied areas. Moreover, the book willserve as a useful educational tool foryoung graduate students who may be en-countering these topics for the first time.

Todd S. EmrickDepartment of Polymer Science and

EngineeringUniversity of Massachusetts

Amherst MA 01003-9292 (USA)

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1476 © 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Adv. Mater. 2006, 18, 1476