Nanoscience that looks like Physical Chemistry

The Biomolecular Science and Engineering seminar that was given yesterday by Naomi Halas from Rice University looked a lot like physical chemistry. Indeed, there were a lot of physical chemists in the audience. It seems like one of the most exciting things about nanoparticles is that their length is ideal for studying electron behavior. Physical chemists and solid state physicists can experimentally observe electrons sort of sloshing around in a tiny container. In other words, nanoparticles, especially metal and ceramic ones, often with some sort of organic decorations on the surface, are really fun toys for physics oriented people to play with.