Morphological Characterization of Nanomaterials

Synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials plays a crucial role in material science and engineering. Nanoparticles exist in a number of shapes depending upon the synthesis procedures. Nanostructured materials showing different morphologies such as nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanowires, nanoflowers, nanocubes, etc. have been extensively studied and have shown considerable technological value in many applications. Morphological control in nanomaterials has a lot of significance, because of its striking properties from microscopic probes to nanoelectronic systems. These functional nanomaterials ensure the possibility of fabricating devices in the area of optics, electronics, magnetism, and photonics. Different shapes of nanomaterials include nanospheres, nanocube, nanowires, nanoreef, nanoclusters, and nanotubes. Microstructural characterization gives information about the morphology of different phases, number of phases, chemical composition, and crystallographic defects. Various properties of nanomaterials can be finely tuned based on its morphology, therefore a detailed study on the morphology of nanomaterials and its effect on the optical, electrical, magnetic, electronic, and thermal properties is required. Various morphological characterization techniques such as atomic force microscope, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, etc. were used to evaluate the particles in the nanoregime.