Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials are chemical substances or materials that are manufactured and used at a very small scale. Nanomaterials are developed to exhibit novel characteristics compared to the same material without nanoscale features, such as increased strength, chemical reactivity or conductivity. Nanomaterials that are naturally occurring or are generated as incidental by-products of combustion processes are usually physically and chemically heterogeneous and often termed ‘ultrafine particles’. Engineered nanomaterials, on the other hand, are intentionally produced and designed with physico-chemical properties for a specific purpose or function.