Faraday Discussion 138 took place in Birmingham from 3 - 5 September 2007.

The discussion focussed on nanoalloys, which have lately been of increasing interest for a number of reasons. One of the major reasons is the fact that their chemical and physical properties can be tuned by varying the composition and atomic ordering, as well as the size of the clusters. Nanoalloy surface structures, compositions and degree of segregation or mixing are important in determining their properties.

Nanoalloys often display structures and properties which are distinct from those of the pure elemental clusters and they may also display properties which are distinct from the corresponding bulk alloys, due to finite size effects. In addition to experimental studies (synthesis, characterisation and property measurement), nanoalloys are attracting increasing attention from the point of view of theory and simulation.

Nanoalloys are also proving to be of interest in a number of scientific and technological applications, including: 

. catalysis 

. fuel cells 

. magnetics

 . optics 

. electronics 

Work was presented on all aspects of nanoalloys: synthesis, characterisation, theory and simulation, property measurements and technological applications.