C.N.R. Rao - Böcker

The three natural streams of present-day chemistry are Structure, Dynamics and Synthesis and all these three elements are essential for the study of materials, particularly in the solid state. The solid state provides challenging opportunities for illustrating and applying principles of chemistry to systems of academic interest and technological importance. There are several practising solid state chemists in universities and research laboratories, but the subject has not yet become part of the formal training program in chemistry. Being one of the new frontiers of chemistry, Solid State Chemistry has a tremendous future and undoubtedly demands the active involvement of many more chemists. A Winter School in Solid State Chemistry was organized at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, to promote this area and to develop curricular material. Solid State Chemistry being lighly interdisciplinary in nature, the lecturers and participants at the Winter School had widely different backgrounds and interests. It was my great desire that the lecture material from the Winter School should become available to a larger body of students, teachers and research workers interested in the solid state and hence this volume.

Nanocrystals and Their Mesoscopic Organization is an up-to-date monograph on an important aspect of nanoscience and technology. It opens with an elegant introduction including a brief historical account. Emphasis is then given to diverse synthetic methods, both chemical and physical, in addition to modern hybrid methods. The orientation shifts gradually to properties of nanocrystals that evolve with size; detailed discussions are to be found on mesoscalar assemblies in different dimensions, special cases of core-shell and magic nuclearity nanocrystals. The authors also address applications of nanocrystals, carefully separating out potential applications and those that have already emerged, and cite around 900 references from the literature, most from the last decade. Tables providing information at a glance and schematic diagrams at relevant places, make the monograph appealing to read. Occasionally, the reader is reminded of the contributions of celebrated past masters such as Michael Faraday. In summary, the monograph serves as a general introduction as well as a handy reference for the entire community of researchers and practitioners.