About This Special Issue
Sample preparation is an extremely important part of the overall chemical analysis. The two main purposes of sample preparation are to remove interferences and to increase sensitivity. The prepared sample must also be in a phase compatible with the analytical instrument.
Nanotechnology is nowadays one of the most important trends in material science. The term nanomaterial is normally used to emphasize nano-sized structures in which at least one of its phases has one or more dimensions (length, width or thickness) inthe nanometer size range (1–100 nm). Nanomaterials include nanometer sized particles and materials with porous size in the nanometer range or nanometer sized metallic clusters dispersed within a porous matrix. Compared with non-nanomaterials, they often show impressive changes in physical and chemical properties, such as the unique optical, electrical, thermal, magnetic, catalysis characteristics, etc., due to their ultra-small size or termed nanoscale effect. Therefore, the design, synthesis, characterization, and applications of nanomaterials are critical aspects for the emerging field of nanomaterials. It could be expectedthat the large specific surface areas of nanomaterials can improvethe detection sensitivity and miniaturize the devices. Thus, the nanomaterials-based sample separation and pre-concentration techniques play important roles in many analytical procedures, such as the increase of analytes concentration, the removal of interfering species. Moreover, nanomaterials can also be functionalized with various chemical groups to increase their affinity toward target compounds, which makes them designable for selective extracting target analytes in complex matrices, e.g. environmental and biological samples.Aims and scope:
1. Application of metallic nanaoparticles in sample preparation
2. Application of Carbonaceous nanomaterials in sample preparation
3. Preparation and application of nanocomposites in sample preparation
4. Preparation and application of nanofibers in sample preparation
5. Magnetic nanoparticles based sample preparation methods