Journal of Nanomaterials
Volume 2015 (2015), Article ID 953926, 1 page
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/953926

Editorial

Chemical Functionalization, Self-Assembly, and Applications of Nanomaterials and Nanocomposites 2014

Xingbin Yan,¹ Tifeng Jiao,² Lavinia Balan,³ Xinqing Chen,⁴ Michael Z. Hu,⁵ and Wenwen Liu⁶

¹Laboratory of Clean Energy Chemistry and Materials and State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
²School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China
³Institute of Materials Science of Mulhouse (IS2M), rue Jean Starcky, BP 2488, 68057 Mulhouse Cedex, France
⁴Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon 00852, Hong Kong
⁵Energy and Transportation Science Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
⁶School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798

Received 10 March 2015; Accepted 10 March 2015

Copyright © 2015 Xingbin Yan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The growing interests in nanomaterials and nanocomposites call for the development of processing techniques to obtain multiple functionalization nanostructures and achieve the tailoring of specific features of the nanometer size. Functional nanomaterials and nanocomposites will expand the applied range of the original material and at the same time promote the development of interdiscipline. Thus, the chemical functionalization and bottom-up assemblies of nanomaterials and subsequent applications will accelerate the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

This special issue continues to focus on chemical functionalization, self-assembly, and applications of nanomaterials and nanocomposites in 2014. The issue compiles thirteen exciting manuscripts. It is to refer to multiple functional nanomaterials and nanocomposites such as magnetic materials Mg-Zn-Ferrite and , graphene-based material for the biological and catalytic application, supramolecular material soluble glutathione peroxidase, thermal insulation zeolite that uses the coal fly ash as the raw material under a two-step synthesis, Artemia egg shell-supported TiO₂ high efficiency formaldehyde removal material, and hybrid mesocrystals of ibuprofen and aragonite for medical application. In addition, two of the manuscripts deal with morphology studies about organogel system based on calamitic hydrazide derivatives and calcium carbonate, respectively. The paper by A. Wang et al. explores the bioapplication of gold nanoparticles. The engineering applications about the fretting wear mechanism and debris analysis are in depth researched by L. Zhang et al. Furthermore, X. Qu et al. review the recent advances of fluorescent gold nanoclusters-based applications in biological sensing, biolabeling, and bioimaging and finally discuss the current challenges of fluorescent gold nanoclusters in controllable synthesis and biological application.

Altogether, by compiling these papers, we hope to arouse our readers and researchers’ interest with respect to chemical functionalization, self-assembly, and applications of nanomaterials and nanocomposites.

Acknowledgment

Moreover, sincere thanks are extended to all the authors for their contribution and all reviewers for their time.

Xingbin Yan
Tifeng Jiao
Lavinia Balan
Xinqing Chen
Michael Z. Hu
Wenwen Liu