The articles in this book summarize the work presented at the mid-term workshop of the COST (European Cooperation in the Fields of Scientific and Technical Research) action on Nanostructured Materials, which was held in October 2001 in Limerick, Ireland. The collection gives an excellent overview of the state-of-the-art, topical research areas in this field, and the progress made by the coordinated research projects. The articles cover synthesis, physical properties and characterization of nanostructured materials, such as magnetic and ferroelectric nanoparticles, nanoparticles in biological systems, metallic nanoparticles, nanocomposites, particle-reinforced polymers, semiconductor nanoparticles and thin films. Front Matter....Pages I-VIII Magnetic Nanoparticles and Biosciences....Pages 1-23 Direct Synthesis of Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite by Hydrothermal Hydrolysis of Alkylphosphates....Pages 25-35 Preparation of Nanostructured Magnetic Films by the Plasma Jet Technique....Pages 37-48 Growth of Anodic Films on Compound Semiconductor Electrodes: InP in Aqueous (NH 4 ) 2 S....Pages 49-62 A Study of PbTiO 3 Crystallization in Pure and Composite Nanopowders Prepared by the Sol-Gel Technique....Pages 63-70 Self-Organization of Magnetic Nanoparticles and Inclusion of Hydrogenby Borohydride Reduction....Pages 71-78 Magnetic Properties of Ball-Milled Nanocrystalline Alloys Fe 78 B 13 Si 9 ....Pages 79-86 Microstructure and Magnetic Behaviour of Nanosized Fe 3 O 4 Powders and Poly crystalline Films....Pages 87-92 Microstructure and Defect Characterization of Nanostructured Ni 3 Al....Pages 93-100 Characterization of Nanocomposite Coatings in the System Ti-B-N by Analytical Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy....Pages 101-112 Electronic Structure and Size of TiO 2 Nanoparticles of Controlled Size Prepared by Aerosol Methods....Pages 113-121 Influence of Nanoporosity and Roughness on the Thickness-Dependent Coercivity of Iron Nanonetworks....Pages 123-136 Influence of Al 2 O 3 Nanoparticles on the Thermal Stability of Ultra-Fine Grained Copper Prepared by High Pressure Torsion....Pages 137-151 Vibrational Spectroscopy and Analytical Electron Microscopy Studies of Fe-V-O and In-V-O Thin Films....Pages 153-172 Probing the Exciton Density of States in Semiconductor Nanocrystals Using Integrated Photoluminescence Spectroscopy....Pages 173-182 EXAFS Investigations on Nanocomposites Composed of Surface-Modified Zirconium and Zirconium/Titanium Mixed Metal Oxo Clusters and Organic Polymers....Pages 183-193
