Abstract
At present,
nanomaterials
(NMs) show extreme potential for a wide range of applications ranging
from aerospace to energy storage applications owing to a number of
properties which, in a number of contexts have been reported to be
superior as compared to those of bulk counterparts. However, the high
surface area to volume ratio which yields extraordinary properties to
NMs also turns out to be the major limitation in a number of different
contexts. For instance, the high surface area to volume ratio in these
materials leads to a high reactivity, especially in electrochemical
environments which are prevalent during energy storage applications. In
this context, it is worthwhile mentioning that processing of NMs play a
crucial role in influencing their mechanical properties. On the other
hand, surface engineering has emerged as a powerful tool to deconvolute
bulk properties from surface characteristics and has been reported to
exhibit tremendous potential for overcoming the aforementioned
limitation of NMs. The present review therefore, is aimed at
highlighting the present status of research in the field of processing
and applications of surface engineered NMs. Moreover, challenges and
future perspectives in the aforementioned avenue have been discussed.
Keywords: Nanomaterials, Chemical Vapour Deposition, Atomic
Layer Deposition, pseudocapacitors, batteries.