Nanotechnology is the term given to those areas of science and engineering where phenomena that take place at dimensions in the nanometre scale are utilised in the design, characterisation, production and application of materials, structures, devices and systems.Nanotechnology can change dental medicine, healthcare, and human life more profoundly than several developments of the past. However, they even have the potential to evoke important advantages, like improved health, higher use of natural resources, and reduced environmental pollution.Nanotechnological products, processes and applications are expected to contribute significantly to environmental and climate protection by saving raw materials, energy and water as well as by reducing greenhouse gases and hazardous wastes.Nanotechnology has potential applications in every industrial sector, from medicine to clean water and energy, thereby promising opportunities for enabling radical changes in the lifestyles of populations around the globe.
2. Definition of Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the term given to those areas of science and
engineering where phenomena that take place at dimensions in
the nanometre scale are utilised in the design, characterisation,
production and application of materials, structures, devices and systems.
Although in the natural world there are many examples of structures that
exist with nanometre dimensions (hereafter referred to as the nanoscale),
including essential molecules within the human body and components of
foods, and although many technologies have incidentally involved
nanoscale structures for many years, it has only been in the last quarter
of a century that it has been possible to actively and intentionally modify
molecules and structures within this size range. It is this control at the
nanometre scale that distinguishes nanotechnology from other areas of
technology.
3. History of Nanotechnology
The history of nanotechnology traces the development of the concepts and
experimental work falling under the broad category of nanotechnology.
Although nanotechnology is a relatively recent development in scientific
research, the development of its central concepts happened over a longer
period of time. The emergence of nanotechnology in the 1980s was caused by
the convergence of experimental advances such as the invention of
the scanning tunneling microscope in 1981 and the discovery of fullerenes in
1985, with the elucidation and popularization of a conceptual framework for the
goals of nanotechnology beginning with the 1986 publication of the
book Engines of Creation. The field was subject to growing public awareness
and controversy in the early 2000s, with prominent debates about both
its potential implications as well as the feasibility of the applications envisioned
by advocates of molecular nanotechnology, and with governments moving to
promote and fund research into nanotechnology. The early 2000s also saw the
beginnings of commercial applications of nanotechnology although these were
limited to bulk applications of nanomaterials rather than
the transformative applications envisioned by the field.
4. Early Uses of Nanomaterials
Carbon nanotubes have been found in pottery from Keeladi, India, dating to c.
600–300 BC, though it is not known how they formed or whether the substance
containing them was employed deliberately. Cementite nanowires have been
observed in Damascus steel, a material dating back to c. 900 AD, their origin and
means of manufacture also unknown.
Although nanoparticles are associated with modern science, they were used
by artisans as far back as the ninth century in Mesopotamia for creating
a glittering effect on the surface of pots.
In modern times, pottery from the Middle Ages and Renaissance often retains a
distinct gold- or copper-colored metallic glitter. This luster is caused by a
metallic film that was applied to the transparent surface of a glazing, which
contains silver and copper nanoparticles dispersed homogeneously in the
glassy matrix of the ceramic glaze. These nanoparticles are created by the
artisans by adding copper and silver salts and oxides together
with vinegar, ochre, and clay on the surface of previously-glazed pottery. The
technique originated in the Muslim world. As Muslims were not allowed to use
gold in artistic representations, they sought a way to create a similar effect
without using real gold. The solution they found was using luster.
5. Conceptual Origin: Richard
Feynman
The American physicist Richard Feynman lectured, "There's Plenty of
Room at the Bottom," at an American Physical Society meeting
at Caltech on December 29, 1959, which is often held to have
provided inspiration for the field of nanotechnology. Feynman had
described a process by which the ability to manipulate individual
atoms and molecules might be developed, using one set of precise
tools to build and operate another proportionally smaller set, so on
down to the needed scale. In the course of this, he noted, scaling
issues would arise from the changing magnitude of various physical
phenomena: gravity would become less important, surface
tension and Van der Waals attraction would become more important.
6. Tools and Techniques
There are several important modern developments. The Atomic Force
Microscope(AFM) and the Scanning Tunneling Microscope(STM) are two
early versions of scanning probes that launched nanotechnology. There are
other types of scanning probe microscopy, all flowing from the ideas of the
scanning confocal microscope developed by Marvin Minsky in 1961 and
the scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) developed by Calvin Quate and
coworkers in the 1970s, that made it possible to see structures at the
nanoscale. The tip of a scanning probe can also be used to manipulate
nanostructures (a process called positional assembly).
Newer techniques such as Dual Polarisation Interferometry are enabling
scientists to measure quantitatively the molecular interactions that take
place at the nano-scale.
However, new therapeutic products, based on responsive nanomaterials,
such as the ultradeformable, stress-sensitive Transfersome vesicles, are
under development and already approved for human use in some countries.
7. Nanotechnology and
Nanotechnology Research Center
The Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Center (CINN) was created in
November 2007 by a joint initiative of 3 institutions, the Spanish
National Research Council (CSIC), the Principality of Asturias and the University of
Oviedo.
The CINN pursues the creation, characterization and understanding of the behavior
of new multifunctional materials on the nano, micro and macro scale, overcoming
thereby the performance constraints that limit present-day materials and
processes and the research is focused on five applications fields: Energy, Health,
Homeland Security and Defense, Industry and Information and Communication
Technologies.
The CINN is specialized in the preparation of raw materials, particularly ceramics.
The starting materials can be both micrometer size and nanometer. The laboratory
is equipped to perform:
• Preparation stable ceramic slurries . Rheological characterization.
• Attrition milling of ceramic powders
• Atomization of ceramic slurries in aqueous medium
• Atomization of ceramic slurries in alcohols
• Lyophilization of ceramic slurries
8. Development of Nanotechnology
We define nanoscience as the study of phenomena and the manipulation of
materials at atomic, molecular, and macromolecular scales, where
properties differ significantly from those at larger scale, and
nanotechnologies as the design, characterization, production, and
application of structures, devices, and systems by controlling shape and size
at the nanometer scale.
Nature depends fundamentally on structures and processes operating at
the nanoscale, from simple colloids such as milk to highly sophisticated
proteins.
Carbon nanostructures have been the focus of much interest and research
since they were first observed in the mid-1980s. The football-shaped
Buckminsterfullerene (C60) and its analogs show great promise as lubricants
and, thanks to their cage structures, as drug delivery systems, as well as in
electronics.
Much interest is also focused on quantum dots, which are semiconductor
nanoparticles that can be ‘tuned’ to emit or absorb particular colors of
light for use in solar energy or fluorescent biological labels.
Nanoscience and nanotechnologies offer great opportunities. Almost all
nanotechnologies pose no new risks to heath or the environment.
9. Development of Nanotechnology
Future applications of nanomaterials include lighter, stronger materials,
the use of nanoparticles to clean up contaminated land, and
nanoengineered membranes for more energy-efficient water purification or
desalination.
Computer chips and CD and DVD drives are already operating at
nanoscales, and nanoscience and nanotechnologies will continue to have a
pivotal role in the progressive miniaturization of computer chips and the
enhancement of data storage. There is also a huge impetus to develop
alternative technologies and materials to Si. For example, plastic electronic
devices, using conducting polymers for data storage and transfer, are
cheaper to manufacture than Si-based devices, and will be particularly
suitable for inexpensive applications like smart cards, where speed and high
memory capacity are less critical. It could also enable advances such as
roll-up TV screens.
Nanotechnologies are also enabling the development of smaller, cheaper
sensors, which will have a wide range of applications from monitoring the
pollution in the environment, the freshness of food, or the stresses in a
building or a vehicle.
10. Future of Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is an emerging science which is expected to have rapid and strong future
developments. It is predicted to contribute significantly to economic growth and job
creation in the EU in the coming decades.
According to scientists, nanotechnology is predicted to have four distinct generations of
advancement. We are currently experiencing the first, or maybe second generation of
nanomaterials.
The first generation is all about material science with enhancement of properties that are
achieved by the incorporating "passive nanostructures". This can be in the form of coatings
and/or the use of carbon nanotubes to strengthen plastics.
The second generation makes use of active nanostructures, for example, by being bioactive
to provide a drug at a specific target cell or organ. This could be done by coating the
nanoparticle with specific proteins.
The complexity advances further in the third and fourth generations. Starting with an
advance nanosystem for e.g. nanorobotics and moving on to a molecular nanosystem to
control growth of artificial organs in the fourth generation of nanomaterials.
Safe-by design for nanomaterials
The development of the ‘Safe-by-design’ concept for nanomaterials is currently under
investigation by scientists. The basic premise is: rather than testing the safety of
nanomaterials after they are put on the market, the safety assessment should be
incorporated into the design and innovation stage of a nanomaterial’s development.
The aim of this is to give companies a more cost effective risk management early in the
process and/or product developments.
11. Five Ways Nanotechnology is
Securing Your Future
The past 70 years have seen the way we live and work transformed by
two tiny inventions. The electronic transistor and the microchip are what
make all modern electronics possible, and since their development in the
1940s they've been getting smaller. Today, one chip can contain as many
as 5 billion transistors. If cars had followed the same development
pathway, we would now be able to drive them at 300,000mph and they
would cost just £3 each.
But to keep this progress going we need to be able to create circuits on
the extremely small, nanometre scale. A nanometre (nm) is one billionth
of a metre and so this kind of engineering involves manipulating individual
atoms. We can do this, for example, by firing a beam of electrons at a
material, or by vaporising it and depositing the resulting gaseous
atoms layer by layer onto a base.
The real challenge is using such techniques reliably to manufacture working
nanoscale devices. The physical properties of matter, such as its melting
point, electrical conductivity and chemical reactivity, become very
different at the nanoscale, so shrinking a device can affect its performance.
If we can master this technology, however, then we have the opportunity
to improve not just electronics but all sorts of areas of modern life.
12. 1) Doctors Inside Your Body
Wearable fitness technology means we can monitor our health by
strapping gadgets to ourselves. There are even prototype electronic
tattoos that can sense our vital signs. But by scaling down this
technology, we could go further by implanting or injecting tiny
sensors inside our bodies. This would capture much more detailed
information with less hassle to the patient, enabling doctors to
personalise their treatment.
The possibilities are endless, ranging from monitoring inflammation
and post-surgery recovery to more exotic applications whereby
electronic devices actually interfere with our body's signals for
controlling organ function. Although these technologies might sound
like a thing of the far future, multi-billion healthcare firms such as
GlaxoSmithKline are already working on ways to develop so-called
"electroceuticals".
13. 2) Sensors, sensors, everywhere
These sensors rely on newly-invented nanomaterials and
manufacturing techniques to make them smaller, more complex
and more energy efficient. For example, sensors with very fine
features can now be printed in large quantities on flexible rolls of
plastic at low cost. This opens up the possibility of placing sensors
at lots of points over critical infrastructure to constantly check
that everything is running correctly. Bridges, aircraft and
even nuclear power plants could benefit.
14. 3) Self-healing structures
If cracks do appear then nanotechnology could play a further
role. Changing the structure of materials at the nanoscale can
give them some amazing properties – by giving them a
texture that repels water, for example. In the future,
nanotechnology coatings or additives will even have the potential
to allow materials to "heal" when damaged or worn. For example,
dispersing nanoparticles throughout a material means that they
can migrate to fill in any cracks that appear. This could produce
self-healing materials for everything from aircraft cockpits to
microelectronics, preventing small fractures from turning into
large, more problematic cracks.
15. 4) Making big data possible
All these sensors will produce more information than we've ever had
to deal with before – so we'll need the technology to process it
and spot the patterns that will alert us to problems. The same will be
true if we want to use the "big data" from traffic sensors to help
manage congestion and prevent accidents, or prevent crime by using
statistics to more effectively allocate police resources.
Here, nanotechnology is helping to create ultra-dense memory that
will allow us to store this wealth of data. But it's also providing the
inspiration for ultra-efficient algorithms for processing, encrypting
and communicating data without compromising its reliability. Nature
has several examples of big-data processes efficiently being performed
in real-time by tiny structures, such as the parts of the eye and
ear that turn external signals into information for the brain.
Computer architectures inspired by the brain could also use energy
more efficiently and so would struggle less with excess heat – one of
the key problems with shrinking electronic devices further.
16. 5) Tackling climate change
The fight against climate change means we need new ways to generate
and use electricity, and nanotechnology is already playing a role. It has
helped create batteries that can store more energy for electric cars
and has enabled solar panels to convert more sunlight into electricity.
The common trick in both applications is to use nanotexturing or
nanomaterials (for example nanowires or carbon nanotubes) that turn
a flat surface into a three-dimensional one with a much greater
surface area. This means that there is more space for the reactions
that enable energy storage or generation to take place, so the devices
operate more efficiently
In the future, nanotechnology could also enable objects to harvest
energy from their environment. New nano-materials and concepts are
currently being developed that show potential for producing energy
from movement, light, variations in temperature, glucose and other
sources with high conversion efficiency.