The Nano-Micro Interface. Bridging the Micro and Nano Worlds. Edited by Hans-Jörg Fecht and Matthias Werner

Nanotechnology has not only attracted significant attention from various research communities, industries, and policy-makers, but has also drawn great public interest and enthusiasm. A lot of progress has been made lately, particularly in the past decade, and has resulted in a huge number of publications, focused journals, various scientific conferences, and monographs. The nanotechnology field is so broad and diverse and is evolving so rapidly that the information available on this topic is overwhelming. The issue is made more complex by the fact that people working in the nanotechnology field have varying opinions and perspectives about nanotechnology. That is not surprising, since nanotechnology is truly an interdisciplinary field. Scientists, engineers, and technicians from many different disciplines, including physics, chemistry, surface science, materials science, biology, medical science, and device sciences and technology, are all participating and contributing to the advancement of nanotechnology. People from different disciplines are educated and equipped with different ways of thinking and experimentation. Nanotechnology has significantly promoted synergistic collaborations among researchers from different fields, resulting in a better fundamental understanding of science and technology, which in turn causes further development in the field. However, the many gaps between different research communities remain a great challenge, and hinder such synergistic collaboration among researchers. The book The Nano-Micro Interface: Bridging the Micro and Nano Worlds fills one of these gaps. More specifically, this book, as its subtitle indicates, bridges the micro and nano worlds. Nanotechnology deals with materials and/or structures in which at least one characteristic dimension is within the nanometer range (from several nanometers to several hundred nanometers). Chemists and materials scientists synthesize and study such materials, typically starting from the molecular level, which is described as the bottom-up approach, whereas electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineers designing and fabricating structures often rely on a lithographic or similar approach which starts with macroscopic materials, and is thus called a top-down approach. Nanomaterials and nanostructures can be synthesized and/or fabricated by both top-down and bottom-up approaches. Two research communities meet at this nano world from opposite directions, with different technical approaches and strengths. The book consists of two parts: Part I, Nanotechnology Research Funding and Commercialization Prospects (6 chapters), and Part II, Fundamentals and Technology (17 chapters). The 23 chapters were contributed by a total of 71 authors from 14 countries. Contributions from western European countries predominate, but there are also noticeable representations from eastern European countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Latvia, as well as from Japan, Canada, and the USA. The contributing authors are from academia, research institutes, industry, and government-funded agencies. Therefore, readers not only get a broad spectrum of opinions and perspectives about nanotechnology, but also learn of the research activities and commercialization efforts in various countries. The information presented in Part I is unique to this book, since most edited monographs on nanotechnology are focused on the technical aspects. The titles of these six chapters are indicative of their contents: 1. US National Nanotechnology Initiative: Planning for the Next Five Years; 2. Technological Marketing for Early Nanotechnology; 3. Asia-Pacific Nanotechnology: Research, Development, and Commercialization; 4. Cooperation with Smalland Medium-Sized Enterprises Boosts Commercialization; 5. Rapid Commercialization of Nanotechnology in Japan: from Laboratory to Business; 6. Nanomaterials and Smart Medical Devices. The 17 chapters in Part II are more like a compilation of research papers covering subjects that range from synthesis and self-assembly of nanomaterials and fabrication of nanostructures and nanostructured surfaces to device fabrication and property characterization, and to applications of nanomaterials and nanostructures. These chapters provide readers with examples of a wide variety of research activities associated with nanotechnology, although these constitute only a small fraction of all nanotechnology research. There is space for improvement in this book. For example, a more coherent link between different chapters could be established, with better focus, although that is always a great challenge in an edited monograph. If each chapter started with an executive summary or abstract, it would be really helpful for readers to grasp some key information without reading through the entire chapter. The quality varies noticeably from chapter to chapter. Some text could be better edited and polished, so as to eliminate some noticeable errors, such as “narrower bandgap with decreasing grain size” in the table on page VII. The interface between the nano and micro worlds is an excellent topic for further books to introduce nanotechnology to the general public and broader scientific communities. Up to now, nanotechnology has remained generally defined as the design, fabrication, and application of nanostructures and nanomaterials. Past research has been focused mainly on the synthesis of nanomaterials and fabrication of nanostructures, and these efforts have resulted in Books