A review of characterization and physical property studies of metallic nanoparticles

In this survey, the characterization of metallic nanoparticles prepared by various methods and the physical properties including the theory and measurements of linear and nonlinear optics, electric and magnetic properties are reviewed. Technical results involving linear optical absorption, optical second harmonic generation, temperature dependence of resistivity, electron paramagnetic resonance and magnetic susceptibility measurements were portrayed. A number of fascinating and provocative results have been developed that lead our perspective understanding of quantum size confinements. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.