NanobiotechnologyConcepts, Applications andPerspectives. Edited by Christof M.Niemeyer and Chad A. Mirkin.

Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2004. 491 pp., hard-cover E 137.08.—ISBN 3-527-30658-7

Nanotechnology and biotechnologyhave both rapidly evolved in recentyears, and are considered to be two keytechnologies forthe 21st century.The interplay be-tween these twotechnologiesleads to a verypromising andactive researchfield, namely bio-nanotechnologyor nanobiotech-nology. It con-sists of two closely related sides; onefocuses on developing nanotechnologywith biologically related approacheswhile the other applies nanotechnologyin biomedical studies.

Biological systems such as cells andviruses are structured at the nanometerscale and function at the same scale. Inthat sense, they are natural, provennanotechnology systems. In developinga human version of nanotechnology, wewould like to directly exploit existingbiological nanostructures, to mimic bio-logical systems and synthesize non-bio-logical structures, to extract and applythe principles of biological systems.Logically, more than half of the bookNanobiotechnology is devoted to pro-tein- and DNA-based nanostructures ordevices. Proteins and DNA can self-assemble into various structures withnanometer-scale features. Such biologi-cal structures can be used as templatesor scaffolds to prepare structures withinorganic materials. The resulting struc-tures have interesting physical proper-ties and can be utilized in many techno-logical applications, including nanoelec-tronic devices, high-density data stor-age, molecular computations, nanoma-chines, optical devices, and biosensors.

As nanotechnology advances, it pro-vides many new tools for studies of bio-logical systems that would otherwise beimpossible. For example, atomic forcemicroscopy allows visualization and ma-

nipulation of individual proteins or DNAmolecules. Semiconducting nanocrystalsare fluorescence labels that can survivefor a much longer time than organic flu-orescent dyes under strong lumines-cence. Nanoarrays offer a means to ana-lyze large sets of chemicals or cells inparallel.

When I first taught a course on “Bio-nanotechnology” in the fall of 2003, Itried hard to search for a textbook. Verydisappointed and surprised, I could notfind a single book that covered the im-portant aspects of this field. I had to setup the course syllabus and scratch liter-ature for the course materials all bymyself. It was of course time consumingand took a great deal of effort. When Itaught the same course for the secondtime in the fall of 2004, however, myjob became much easier because twobooks became available. One book isNanobiotechnology, edited by ChristofM. Niemeyer and Chad A. Mirkin, twoleading experts in this field. The other isBionanotechnology, written by David S.Goodsell. Both are excellent books andintroduce this field nicely. However,these books are written and organizeddifferently from each other and providereaders with different views of the field.

Nanobiotechnology consists of inde-pendent chapters, each of which is writ-ten by active experts in a particular sub-field. The authors of each chapter ap-proach bionanotechnology from differ-ent angles that typify their differentbackgrounds. This method of organiza-tion provides us with a diverse range ofviews about this field. One thing I par-ticularly like is that all of the research-ers have written their own outlooks fortheir own fields, which helps the readerto understand what problems remain,what is likely to be the next break-through, and what science or technolo-gy we can expect to be available in thenear future. And more importantly,those outlooks help me, as a research-er, to re-evaluate and readjust my ownresearch directions. Every chapter alsocontains a comprehensive list of refer-ences that suggests further reading ma-terials if one would like to learn more.

Just like any other book, Nanobio-technology is not perfect. Some essen-tial topics are missing in this book, suchas the rational design of protein/pep-tide self-assembly systems, virus-based

nanostructures, and lipid-related re-search. These are active research areasin nanobiotechnology and should havebeen included. Despite this flaw, Nano-biotechnology does an excellent job inproviding an overview of this field andis an ideal starting point for more thor-ough study. I truly believe that thisbook can serve as a textbook for gradu-ate students, as an essential referencefor active specialists, and as interestingreading material for general readerswith a curiosity in bionanotechnology.

Chengde MaoPurdue UniversityDepartment of chemistryWest Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (USA)

Nano-Architectured and Nano-structured MaterialsBy Yannick Champion and Hans-JçrgFecht.

Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2004. 151 pp., hard-cover E 89.00.—ISBN 3-527-31008-8

Nanomaterials have received muchrecent attention because they are ex-pected to be used in various applica-tions based ontheir excellentand unique opti-cal, electrical,magnetic, cata-lytic, biological,or mechanicalproperties. Suchproperties origi-nate from thefinely tuned nano-architecturesand nanostruc-tures of these materials. However, thefabrication and analysis of nanomateri-als remains challenging and, therefore,considerable and continuous effortshave been made to explore novel syn-thetic and analytical methods fornanoarchitectures and nanostructuresby many researchers all over the world.

The book entitled Nano-architec-tured and Nanostructured Materials,

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edited by Yannick Champion and Hans-Jçrg Fecht, provides several examples ofthe recent research developments in thecorresponding fields. Nineteen chaptersbased on symposia from the EUROMATconference in 2003 have been collected,and internationally recognized expertsdiscuss hot topics in the field of nano-materials. Each chapter, consisting of 4–11 pages, concisely describes the es-sence of the vanguard research. Basical-ly, the chapters are self-contained andare only connected by the commontheme of nanoscience. However, thewide variety of topics covered results ina sophisticated harmony, and most ofthe important aspects of nanomaterialsare addressed when considering thebook as a whole.

This book places a special emphasison inorganic nanomaterials with nano-structured materials classified as nano-tubes, nanocrystals, nanopowders,nanofibers, nanosheets, or nanorods,implying that most of the known nano-structures can be found somewherewithin these classifications. A variety ofsynthetic approaches is described, in-cluding the synthesis of multiwalledcarbon nanotubes by underwater electricarc. The transcription of nanostructurefrom template objects to target materialsmaintains its position as one of themost important methodologies in therecent development of nanofabrication.Several examples of template synthesis,such as the synthesis of polyanilinenanotubes in the channels of anodic alu-mina membranes and the synthesis ofnanostructured metal oxide fibers usingcellulose templates, appear in the book.Nanopowders and nanoparticles are em-phasized in several chapters, for exam-ple, where silver-doped copper nano-powders, nanocrystalline copper, andcatalytic palladium nanoparticles are dis-cussed. As unique topics, supramolec-ular approaches based on self-assemblyprocesses are described in the final twochapters. One of these chapters de-scribes the multilayer formation of man-ganese oxide nanosheets with counter-ionic polyelectrolytes by an electrostaticlayer-by-layer adsorption method. Theother is concerned with the preparationof metal nanorods using polymer tem-plates that are formed upon spontane-ous nanoscopic phase separation ofpolymer segments.

As a partner to synthesis in theworld of nanomaterials science, analysisand property evaluation of the targetnanomaterials is the next importanttopic in the corresponding researchfields, because unexplored phenomenaand characteristics must exist in thenanoscopic world. Some chapters in thisbook deal with analytical aspects of thefield, such as grain-boundary microanal-ysis in alumina/silicon carbide nano-composites, a neutron powder-diffrac-tion study of an iron–cobalt alloy, and aNMR acidity characterization of a nano-crystalline zeolite. Practical applicationsof nanomaterials are eagerly awaitedand so, this research field is hot. Ofcourse, application-oriented evaluationsof various properties of the nanostruc-tured materials are also included, ascan be seen in the chapters on the elec-trical properties of single-walled carbon-nanotube fibers, the electrical transportand magneto-transport properties ofnanocomposite thin films of single-walled carbon-nanotubes, and actuatorproperties of nanoporous gold sheets.As a counterpart of the practical appli-cations, basic modeling of nanostruc-tures can be also found in this book.For example, the book includes topicson the empirical modeling of the nano-crystallization of amorphous alloys, andnumerical modeling of magneto-impe-dance effects in soft magnetic materials.

In all of the chapters, forefront sci-ences and technologies of nanomateri-als are described using many illustra-tions and graphs, which allow for easycomprehension of the contents by thereader. In particular, one can find manybeautiful high-resolution micrographicimages throughout this book. This isnot a book that must be read from thebeginning. Readers can select their fa-vorite subject in a way similar to read-ing journals, magazines, and newspa-pers. Even reading several chapters,rather than all of the chapters, would bevery helpful in learning various aspectsin nanomaterials science and technolo-gy. The most appropriate readers of thisbook would be experienced specialists. Iwould not specifically recommend thisbook as a guide for beginners and stu-dents, however, beginners might enjoythis book even if they lack a deepknowledge in the subject material. Theconcise descriptions are friendly enough

for the beginner to appreciate the es-sence of the current movement in thecorresponding fields. Photographs andillustrations are placed throughout thebook and will stimulate the readers’imagination.

Katsuhiko ArigaSupermolecules GroupAdvanced Materials LaboratoryNational Institute for Materials Science1-1 Namik, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044(Japan)DOI: 10.1002/smll.200400107

NanophotonicsBy Paras N. Prasad.

Wiley-Interscience, New York 2004.415 pp., hardcover $ 84.95.—ISBN 0-471-64988-0

Nanophotonics is neither pure physics,chemistry, or engineering; it is a combi-nation of all three. It is a highly interdis-ciplinary topicwhere the levelof understandingin each of thethree areas hasto be very high.This fact makesthe topic ex-tremely rich, butthis is probablyalso a big limita-tion. Just to giveone example,you have to beexpert in supramolecular chemistry,quantum optics, and optical transmis-sion technology. And if you want to setup a startup company in nanophotonics,you even need to know the marketplace!

Paras N. Prasad explains very im-pressively in simple terms the main con-cepts and open questions in nanopho-tonics so that, for example, a physicistcan understand chemistry, engineering,and sales. This includes such examplesas colloidal as well as epitaxial quan-tum-confined materials, plasmonic ma-terials, photonic crystals, up-conversion

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