Over the last few years, nanoscience and nanotechnology have been the focus of significant research attention, both from academia and industry. This sustained focus has in-turn driven the interdisciplinary field of material science research to the forefront of scientific inquiry through the creation and study of nanomaterials. Nanomaterials play an important role in the development of new materials as they can be used to influence and control physical properties and specific characteristics of other materials. Nanostructured materials that have been created include nanoparticles, nanocapsules, nanoporous materials, polymer multi-layers to name a few. These are increasingly used across applications as diverse as automotive, environment, energy, catalysis, biomedical, pharmaceutical, and polymer industries. The Encyclopedia of Polymeric Nanomaterials (EPN) intends to be a comprehensive reference work on this dynamic field studying nanomaterials within the context of the relationship between molecular structure and the properties of polymeric materials.

Alphabetically organized as an encyclopedic Major Reference Work, EPN will cover the subject along multiple classification axes represented by name, source, properties, function, and structures or even processes, applications and usage. The underlying themes of the encyclopedia has been carefully identified to be based not just on material-based and function-based representation but also on structure- and process-based representation. The encyclopedia will have an exclusive focus on polymeric nanomaterials (for e.g., nanoceramics, nanocomposites, quantum dots, thin films) and will be a first of its kind work to have such an organization providing an overview to the concepts, practices and applications in the field. The encyclopedia intends to cover research and development work ranging from the fundamental mechanisms used for the fabrication of polymeric nanomaterials to their advanced application across multiple industries.
About the Author: Shiro Kobayashi, Distinguished Professor at the R&D Center for Bio-based Materials at the Kyoto Institute of Technology and Emeritus at the Kyoto University is a series editor of Springer's book series Advances in Polymer Science. As an outstanding contributor to research in polymer chemistry Kobayashi has received several honors including the medal with Purple Ribbon from the Emperor of Japan. His current research focuses on new methodologies in polymer synthesis with a special focus on enzymatic polymerization and identifying new polymer materials. Kobayashi received his Ph.D from Kyoto University and did postdoctoral work with Nobel laureate George Olah.

Klaus Müllen is professor and director of the Max-Planck Institute of Polymer Reseasrch in Mainz, Germany. His Ph.D. degree was granted by the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 1972 where he undertook research with Professor F. Gerson on twisted pi-systems and EPR spectroscopic properties of the corresponding radical anions. In 1972 he joined the group of Professor J.F.M. Oth at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich where he worked in the field of dynamic NMR spectroscopy and electrochemistry. He received his habilitation from the ETH Zurich in 1977 and was appointed Privatdozent. In 1979 he became a Professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Cologne, and accepted an offer of a chair in Organic Chemistry at the University of Mainz in 1983. He received a call to the University of Göttingen in 1988.
Klaus Müllen is Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and Editor for Polymer Bulletin. He received many awards and positions.