A universal metadata system for the characterization of nanomaterials

This paper presents a detailed analysis of a newly developed system for the identification of nanomaterials and nanostructures of an arbitrary nature. The system has been created as a result of the joint work of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) and the International Council for Science (ICSI). It is shown that at its core the developed system is an extended set of metadata that reflect the conceptual framework of a scientific discipline. Their features include a wide coverage of the sum of the properties and characteristics, as well as the possibility of adding new headings, i.e., support for the evolution of the conceptual scheme that meets the requirements of the subject field. Limitations in the possibilities of the representation of certain categories of nanomaterials, especially of macroscopic objects, are found. It is shown that it is possible to overcome them by the active use of existing ontologies in the field of materials science.