Measurements to address nanocharacterization challenges

Being a fast-expanding class of materials with several applications, nanostructures have garnered enormous interest. Many methods have been employed to determine the size, crystal structure, elemental makeup, and a number of other physical characteristics of nanoparticles. There are physical characteristics that can frequently be assessed using multiple methods. The selection of the most appropriate method is complicated by the various advantages and disadvantages of each technique, necessitating frequently a combinatorial characterization approach. Nanostructured materials pose a number of challenges for adequate, valuable, and required examination, regardless of the method. This chapter examines the state of the art and recent breakthroughs in the techniques used to examine the surfaces of nanomaterials, covering both conventional methods that are readily available to researchers, and current developments. In addition, this chapter focuses on a combination of measurements that is required to address nanocharacterization challenges by either extending the existing measurement techniques or developing new measurement methods that can accommodate compositional and performance factors at the nanoscale. Furthermore, there will be an extensive discussion of the limitations of present technologies, methods that could potentially overcome these limitations, and prospective future developments in novel techniques for nanomaterial characterization. Finally, this chapter offers a new and forward-looking viewpoint on nanocharacterization procedures that is separate from, yet complementary to existing sources.