Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to nanotechnology, leveraging advances in materials metrology and synthesis which have been developed in support of microfabrication research. Materials with structure at the nanoscale often have unique optical, electronic, or mechanical properties. Nano-sized particles exist in nature and can be created from a variety of products, such as carbon or minerals like silver, but nanomaterials by definition must have at least one dimension that is less than approximately 100 nanometers. Most nanoscale materials are too small to be seen with the naked eye and even with conventional lab microscopes.
Materials engineered to such a small scale are often referred to as engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), which can take on unique optical, magnetic, electrical, and other properties. These emergent properties have the potential for great impacts in electronics, medicine, and other fields.
Nanotechnologies involve designing and producing objects or structures at a very small scale, on the level of 100 nanometres (100 millionth of a millimetre) or less. Nanomaterials are one of the main products of nanotechnologies – as nano-scale particles, tubes, rods, or fibres. Nanoparticles are normally defined as being smaller that 100 nanometres in at least one dimension.