The new millennium has seen the birth of a new perspective that conflates research in solid-state physics,biological science as well as materials engineering.The perspective is one that recognizes that future new advances in all these areas will be based on a funda-mental understanding of the atomic and molecular infrastructure of materials that has resulted from two centuries of chemistry.Major advances will be achieved when the novel behavior,in particular the quantum mechanical behavior,that nanoscale structures possess,can be controlled and harnessed.

To go with this new perspective the conflated fields have acquired a new name-Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (N&N).The promise of developing functional devices at the molecular and atomic scale is now becoming a reality.However,a massive effort is still needed in order to control the fabrication of such novel nano-devices and nanomachines and exploit processes based on quantum mechanical laws.The next decade should see the emergence of new technologies based on nano-systems with not only improved but hopefully also fundamentally new physico-chemical properties pro-duced at reasonable costs.Experimental and theoretical research should lead to industrial applications yielding important break-throughs.If universities,independent research centers,government agencies and innovative industrial organizations invest time and re-sources imaginatively in this multidisciplinary adventure,a highly synergistic process will ensue in the development of these new technologies.

Nanotechnology is the ability to manipulate atoms and molecules to produce nanostructured materials and functional nanocoatings on biomedical devices(medical equipments) and surgical tools.Nanotechnology is likely to have a significant effect on the global economy and on society in this century,and it promises to make breakthroughs in the biological and medical sciences.

This book contains chapters that focus not only on fundamental advances that are taking place but also on important applications,in particular in the biomedical field that promise to revolutionize a st wide range of technologies in the 21 century.The unique properties that emanate from nanoscale structures are immensely varied and in the next decade nanoscience and nanotechnology will give birth to a vast new range of exciting technological applications that promise to help the creation of a sustainable socio-economic environment.

Professor Sir Harold W.Kroto,FRS
Nobel Laureate,Chemistry 1996