Reference works like encyclopedias and handbooks are a great way to get background information on an unfamiliar topic. The articles, written by experts in those fields, provide overviews of those topics, highlight key research developments, and usually include bibliographies of sources for further reading. It's important to note the publication date; a 2013 article may be vary useful, but you may need to find more sources as well.
Here are a few essential reference works for nanotechnology, and you can find more extensive lists on the nanoengineering and other engineering research guides guides. Many of the available reference works are from Springer, Wiley, and Elsevier/Science Direct, so you may also want to search the publishers' web directly, then limit your results to reference works or encyclopedias).
