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== Common nanoparticles ==

Usually nanoparticles are '''not atomically precise''' and thus of little use for atomically precise manufacturing.

For something to qualify as a "nanoparticle" the following criteria must be met:
* it must be a pieces of matter in the solid state 
* it must have a size smaller than a micrometer (= 1000 nanometers)  
* it must not be too strongly bond to identical particles and it must not be too strongly bond to a substrate. <br> => among others (e.g. high surface area makes high reactivity) easy spilling due to unbondedness is a reason why toxicity considerations are so important for nanoparticles

== Atomically precise nanoparticles ==

Often:
* produced by chemical means
* containing metals (e.g. gold)
* crystalline (also called: "nano crystals") - otherwise they most likely get called otherwise.

Atomically precise nanoparticles may be useful for in the [[Pathways to advanced APM systems|path]] to advanced [[productive nanosystems]].

== Related ==

* [[Thermodynamic nanocrystals]]

== External Links ==

* Atomically precise gold nanocrystal molecules with surface plasmon resonance [http://www.pnas.org/content/109/3/696.full.pdf] - by Huifeng Qian, Yan Zhu, and Rongchao Jin - Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
* ['''Todo:''' Hunt for relevant work about atomically precise nanoparticles]