Summary

In the course of the 20th century, the theory of size-effects in metal thin layers has been explained and described by numerous scientists, and various approaches to the problem have been proposed. Behaviour of metal 1D, 2D and 3D particles of "exiguous" dimensions is affected mainly by the surface size and quantum size effects. These phenomena have become subject of recently developed scientific discipline known as Size-Dependent Chemistry. The surface- and size-effects can be attributed to a high nanoparticle surface-to-bulk ratio. Hand in hand with the reduction of nanoparticle dimension, surface atoms' proportion increases dramatically, thus commonly known physical properties of the bulk materials change. This new book summarises present knowledge and recent experimental results obtained on synthetic polymers.