We developing novel sintering approaches for fabrication of fully dense nanomaterials made from nanoparticle (NP) and core-shell NP building blocks. We demonstrated that bulk nanostructured solids synthesized in this manner possess unique combinations of properties and/or performance that exceed those of their microcrystalline counterparts.

The goal of this development is to gain precise control of the functional properties of solid monolithic materials by retaining nanostructure of the particles or/and their core-shell structure throughout the densification process. The property control is realized by preserving the size and structure of the initial NPs in the fully dense solid, along with formation of a vast network of interfacial regions (grain boundaries), linked to the NPs design.