The field of nanotechnology is currently experiencing a stage of exponential growth. It is predicted that one trillion Euro nanotechnology-enabled products will be on the market by 2015. Nanotechnology development is attenuated due to the difficulty to measure critical features such as nanoparticles (NP) size, number, shape and composition. One essential prerequisite for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of nanomaterials (NMs) is the availability of techniques and tools for real time characterization on the nanoscale level. Indeed, there is a considerable arsenal of detection and characterization methods for NMs. However, these methods are based on laboratory equipment and are not used for real-time monitoring. Consequently, it is more difficult for NP manufacturers to be certain that the production of NPs is accurately controlled.
Therefore, the main objective of this project is to develop novel tools for real time monitoring of NP characteristics during nanomaterial manufacturing.
