Masaryk University Brno, Faculty of Science
Czech Chemical Society Fall Lectures, 11/01/2012
25 Years of ZnO Nanocolloid Science
Lubomír Špaňhel
Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes,
Université de Rennes 1, France
E-Mail: spanhel@univ-rennes1.fr
25 years of fundamental and applied research on colloidal nano-ZnO largely enriched
our knowledge concerning the chemical synthesis routes, cluster structures and
mechanistic aspects of the nucleation/growth of nanoparticles. In addition, various
new nanomaterials concepts were and still are largely explored worldwide in energy-,
telecommunication- and biomedical technologies. This talk gives a historical overview
of the most striking research findings collected so far. Three critical areas will be
addressed and discussed:
(1) Size-structure-property relationships within the quantum confinement regime;
(2) Confined melting and glass transition phenomena in nanosized aggregates;
(3) Nanomaterials development directed towards smart assemblies and coatings.
This talk is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Arnim Henglein, our great teacher and
pioneer of colloidal semiconductor and metal nanosciences, holder of the Heyrovsky
Medal in Gold of the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences (1988), former Director of
Radiochemistry Department at the Hahn-Meitner-Institute Berlin-Wannsee, who died on
January 5, 2012 in Freiburg (Germany) at the age of 85 years.
Arnim Henglein
(1926 - 2012)