Prof. C. N. R. Rao has published around 1400 Research papers and 36 books (edited or authored) in a career spanning 50 years. His books have been translated into other languages and several have grown to include several editions. He is widely recognized and is a member of all major science academies. He has been honoured with 34 Honoris Causa doctorate degrees from universities around the world. He is currently the President of the Third World Academy of Science. He was formerly the President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. He has won numerous other International and National awards, a recent one being the Somiya award from the IUMRS (April, 2004). Dr. P. John Thomas obtained his Ph.D. recently from JNCASR, working in the field of nanocrystals and is currently a Research Associate in the same place. Dr. G. U. Kulkarni is an Associate Professor at JNCASR. He has over 100 publications to his credit. He is working in the field of nanocrystals for the past ten years or so.

Preface 6
Contents 7
1 Basics of Nanocrystals 9
1.1 Introduction 9
1.2 Properties of Nanocrystals 11
2 Synthesis of Nanocrystals 33
2.1 Physical Methods 33
2.2 Chemical Methods 37
2.3 Nanocrystals of Different Shapes 68
2.4 Doping and Charge Injection 74
2.5 Tailoring the Ligand Shell 75
3 Programmed Assemblies 77
3.1 One-Dimensional Arrangements 77
3.2 Rings and Associated Arrangements 80
3.3 Two-Dimensional Arrays 82
3.4 Three-Dimensional Superlattices 91
3.5 Superclusters 96
3.6 Colloidal Crystals 97
4 Properties of Nanocrystals 101
4.1 Melting Point and Heat Capacity 101
4.2 Electronic Properties 103
4.3 Optical Properties 114
4.4 Magnetic Properties 126
5 Core–Shell Nanocrystals 133
5.1 Synthesis and Properties 133
5.2 Assemblies of Core–Shell Nanocrystals 141
6 Applications 143
6.1 Introduction 143
6.2 Nanocrystals as Fluorescent Tags 143
6.3 Nanocrystal-Based Optical Detection and Related Devices 147
6.4 Biomedical Applications of Oxide Nanoparticles 149
6.5 Optical and Electro-Optical Devices 150
6.6 Dip-Pen Nanolithography with Nanocrystals 151
6.7 Nanoelectronics and Nanoscalar Electronic Devices 153
6.8 Nanocomputing 157
References 159
Index 183