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Nanostructured surfaces can be broadly defined as substrates in which the typical features have dimensions in the range 1–100 nm (although the upper limit of 100 nm may be relaxed to greater sizes in some cases, depending on the material and the specific property being investigated). The recent surge of interest in these systems stems from the remarkable effects that may arise from the critical size reduction. Interesting novel properties (catalytic, magnetic, ferroelectric, mechanical, optical and electronic) occur as we reduce the dimensions from a practically infinite (and periodic) solid crystal to a system composed of a relatively small number of atoms. So far, nanostructured materials or nanomaterials are perhaps the only sub-field of nanoscience that has made the transition from fundamental science to real world applications, thus becoming a technology (a good example of this are nanostructured surface …