Introduction

Abstract

Polymers, due to palette of remarkable and applicable properties, attract interest of physicists, chemists, and biologists over decades. Most of these extraordinary characteristics originate from their reduced dimensionality and regular structure. Discovery of carbon nanotubes by Iijima in 1991, and the revolution they caused in material science, additionally stressed out that quasi-one-dimensionality was crucially responsible for the peculiarities of these systems. The well-established notions of nanoscience, nanotechnology, and/or nanobiotechnology illustrate impact of these systems on both the fundamental science and technology. Actually, the acronym N&N, stressing out only the nanoscale, is the best description of the whole bunch of interrelated classical sciences and high-tech breakthroughs of the fast-growing field initialized by the discovery of nanotubes. This is probably the most remarkable example how development of the fundamental and applied science is interrelated through endless series of feedbacks. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.