TABLE OF CONTENTS In the previous chapters, we have introduced the fundamentals and general methods for the synthesis and fabrication of various nanostructures and nanomaterials including nanoparticles, nanowires and thin films. However, there are a number of important nanomaterials not included in these discussions, since their syntheses are unique and difficult to group into previous chapters. Examples of such nanomaterials are carbon fullerenes and nanotubes, ordered mesoporous materials, organic inorganic hybrids, intercalation compounds, and oxide-metal core-shell structures. In addition, bulk materials with nanosized building blocks, such as nanograined ceramics and nanocomposites, have not been discussed so far. In this chapter, we will discuss the synthesis of these special nanomaterials. Most of these nanomaterials are unique, do not exist in nature, and are truly "man-made" relatively recently, therefore, a brief introduction to the materials, such as their peculiar structures and properties, has also been included in the discussion. All the discussion has been kept very general, but detailed references are given so that the readers can easily find literature to gain more insight to those subjects when needed.
Carbon is a unique material, and can be a good metallic conductor in the form of graphite, a wide band gap semiconductor in the form of diamond, or a polymer when reacted with hydrogen. Carbon provides examples of materials showing the entire range of intrinsic nanometer scaled structures from fullerenes, which are zero-dimensional nanoparticles, to carbon nanotubes, one-dimensional nanowires to graphite, a two-dimensional layered anisotropic material, to fullerene solids,...
