Please find attached the citation and the abstract of a publication on nanoglasses that answers your question, at least in part.

Nanoglasses: a new kind of noncrystalline materials

Herbert Gleiter

Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany and Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Herbert Gleiter Institute of Nanoscience, Building 340, Nanjing, Jiangsu 2 10094, P. R. China

Email of corresponding author Corresponding author email

This article is part of the Thematic Series "Advances in nanomaterials".

Associate Editor: P. Ziemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 517–533.

doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.61

Abstract

Nanoglasses are a new class of noncrystalline solids. They differ from today’s glasses due to their microstructure that resembles the microstructure of polycrystals. They consist of regions with a melt-quenched glassy structure connected by interfacial regions, the structure of which is characterized (in comparison to the corresponding melt-quenched glass) by (1) a reduced (up to about 10%) density, (2) a reduced (up to about 20%) number of nearest-neighbor atoms and (3) a different electronic structure. Due to their new kind of atomic and electronic structure, the properties of nanoglasses may be modified by (1) controlling the size of the glassy regions (i.e., the volume fraction of the interfacial regions) and/or (2) by varying their chemical composition. Nanoglasses exhibit new properties, e.g., a Fe90Sc10 nanoglass is (at 300 K) a strong ferromagnet whereas the corresponding melt-quenched glass is paramagnetic. Moreover, nanoglasses were noted to be more ductile, more biocompatible, and catalytically more active than the corresponding melt-quenched glasses. Hence, this new class of noncrystalline materials may open the way to technologies utilizing the new properties.

Keywords: amorphous materials; ferromagnetism; nanoglasses; nanostructured materials; noncrystalline materials.

Best regards

Guenter

Similar to nano crystalline materials nano-glasses are also an analogous approach to consolidate nano-meter sized glassy clusters in order to generate glasses with a high density of interfaces between adjacent glassy regions with either the same or with different chemical compositions. In other words, by consolidating nano-meter sized glassy clusters we generate a solid material that consists of nano meter sized glassy regions connected by interfaces with an enhanced free volume due to the misfits between the atoms at the surfaces of the adjacent glassy clusters. if we consolidate nano-meter sized glassy clusters of different chemical compositions we obtain a multi-phase nano-glass analogous to the multiphase nano-crystalline materials. These nano glasses have different physical properties as compared to ordinary glasses of the same material. one way to produce nano glasses is by means of inert gas condensation. From magnetron sputtering also nano-glasses have been prepared. The electronic structure of nano glasses is also quite different than ordinary glasses. For details see the literature on the properties of nano glasses.