What is Nanotechnology? A Technology that will change the world

What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is a field of research and innovation that involves building 'objects' - frequency, building materials, and devices - on the scale of atoms and molecules. A nanometer is a billionth of a millionth: one ten times the diameter of a hydrogen atom. The diameter of human hair, on average, is about 80,000 nanometers. 

On such scales, the general rules of physics and chemistry no longer apply. For example, the properties of building materials, such as their color, strength, performance, and performance, can vary greatly between nanoscale and macro. Carbon 'nanotubes' are about 100 times stronger than steel but six times lighter.

Nanotechnology, also abbreviated to nanotech, is the use of matter in atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scales for industrial purposes. The first, widespread definition of nanotechnology refers to a specific technical purpose for the precise handling of atoms and molecules for the production of macroscale products, also now called molecular nanotechnology.  A more general definition of nanotechnology was later developed by the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which described nanotechnology as matter management with a size equal to 1 to 100 nanometers in size. This definition reflects the fact that quantum mechanical effects are important in this quantum-realm scale, so the definition has been moved from a specific technical purpose to a research phase including all types of research and technology dealing with specific story structures occurring within a given size limit. It is therefore common to see the plural form "nanotechnologies" and "nanoscale technologies" to refer to a wide range of research and applications with common feature sizes.

Nanotechnology as defined by nature is broad in nature, including various fields of science such as science, organic chemistry, molecular biology, semiconductor physics, energy storage, engineering,  microfabrication,  and molecular engineering.  Research and related resources vary equally, from the expansion of conventional device physics to completely new methods based on molecular integration,  from the development of new nanoscale-sized materials to direct matter atomic scale.

Scientists are currently debating the future effects of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology can create many new products and devices with a wide range of applications, such as nanomedicine, nanoelectronics, biomaterials energy production, and consumer products. On the other hand, nanotechnology raises as many challenges as any new technology, including concerns about the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials, and their potential effects on the global economy, as well as speculation about various doomsday scenarios. These concerns have led to a debate between law firms and the government as to whether special regulation of nanotechnology is appropriate.

Basic concepts

Nanotechnology is systematic engineering that works on a molecular scale. This includes both current performance and high-level ideas. With its original concept, nanotechnology refers to a set of ability to build objects from the ground up, using the techniques and tools developed today to make perfect, high-performance products.

One nanometer (nm) is one billionth, or 10−9, meters. By comparison, the average length of a carbon-carbon bond, or space between these atoms in a molecule, is 0.12-0.15 nm wide, and the DNA double-helix has a diameter of about 2 nm. On the other hand, the tiniest living cell types, Mycoplasma bacteria, are about 200 nm long. At the convention, nanotechnology is considered to be 1 to 100 nm in scale following the definition used by the National Nanotechnology Initiative in the US. The lower limit is set by the size of the atoms (hydrogen has very small atoms, about a quarter of the nm kinetic diameter) because nanotechnology has to build its devices into atoms and molecules. The upper limit is almost pressed but around the lower size when unseen events in large buildings begin to appear and can be used on a nanodevice. These new technologies make nanotechnology different from devices that are just smaller versions of the equivalent macroscopic device; such devices are superior and fall under the definition of microtechnology. 

To put that scale in another context, the comparative size of a nanometer and a meter is the same as that of marble and the earth's size.  Or another way to put it: a nanometer is the number of a normal man's beard growing as he takes it to lift a razor to his face. 

Two main methods of nanotechnology are used. In the "bottom-up" method, building materials and devices are made from molecular components that interact with each other chemically in terms of cell acceptance.  In the "top-down" approach, nanomaterials are formed from large structures without atomic-level control. 

The fields of physics such as nanoelectronics, nanomechanics, nanophotonics, and nanoionics have emerged in the last few decades to provide a basic scientific basis for nanotechnology.

Big to small: resource perspective

Several cases are known as system size decreases. These include mathematical mechanical effects, as well as quantum mechanical effects, for example, the "quantum size effect" in which the electronic properties of solids are transformed with a significant reduction in particle size. This effect does not extend from macro to large size. However, quantum effects can be significant when reaching a nanometer size, usually at a distance of 100 nanometers or less, a space called quantum. In addition, many physical structures (mechanical, electrical, optical, etc.) are flexible compared to larger systems. One example is an increase in the surface area of ​​a volume that converts mechanical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Decreases and reactions to the nanoscale, synthetic materials of nanostructures, and nanodevices with fast ion transport are commonly referred to as nanoionics. The mechanical features of nanosystems are of interest to the study of nanomechanics. The catalytic activity of nanomaterials also opens up potential risks in their interaction with biomaterials.

Nanoscale-reduced artificial materials can show different properties compared to what they show on a macroscale, allowing different applications. For example, opaque objects may be transparent (copper); stable materials can replace flammable (aluminum); insoluble substances can melt (gold). Gold-like materials, which are chemically inert on a standard scale, can serve as a powerful chemical solution for nanoscales. Most of the fascination with nanotechnology is based on the quantum and facial features that are important in nanoscale display

It is easy to become complex: the concept of cells

Modern synthetic chemistry has reached the point where it is possible to prepare tiny molecules in almost any structure. These techniques are used today to produce a wide variety of useful chemicals such as chemicals or commercial polymers. This ability raises the question of stretching this type of control to the next higher level, seeking ways to integrate these unique molecules into supramolecular assemblies that contain many well-organized molecules.

These methods use the concepts of molecular fusion and/or supramolecular chemistry to automatically align them to specific useful concordances using the method below. The concept of molecular recognition is very important: molecules can be formed so that a specific configuration or arrangement is enjoyed due to the intermolecular potential of non-covalent. Watson Rules - Crick base pairing is a direct result of this, as there are enzyme details targeting a single substrate, or wrapping the protein itself. Therefore, two or more components can be designed to fit together and be attractive in the same way to make the whole thing more sophisticated and practical.

Such downsizing should be able to produce similar devices and be much cheaper than the ups and downs, but they can be frustrating as the size and complexity of the assembly you want to increase. Many useful structures require an unusual arrangement of atoms. However, there are many compounding models that rely on molecular recognition in biology, particularly the Watson-Crick interaction with pairing and enzyme-substrate. The challenge for nanotechnology is whether these principles can be used to build new constructions beyond nature.

Cell nanotechnology: a long-term vision

Cell nanotechnology, sometimes called molecular manipulation, describes the engineering nanosystems (nanoscale machines) that operate on a molecular scale. Cell nanotechnology is primarily associated with molecular conjugation, a machine that can produce a desired structure or atom by device atomic principles using the principles of mechanosynthesis. The production of the content of productive nanosystems is not related and should be clearly distinguished from the standard technology used to makve nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles.

While the term "nanotechnology" was coined independently and favored by Eric Drexler (then unknown to Norio Taniguchi) it referred to future manufacturing technologies based on molecular mechanical engineering systems. The basis was that the molecular measurements of the biological mechanisms of the traditional machine showed that cellular machinery could have been possible: with countless examples found in biology, it is known that complex, highly engineered natural machinery could be made.

It is hoped that advances in nanotechnology will make its construction possible in other ways, perhaps using biomimetic principles. However, Drexler and other researchers have suggested that advanced nanotechnology, although it may have been initially used in biomimetic methods, may eventually be based on mechanical engineering principles, i.e., production technology based on the mechanical properties of these materials (such as gears, -bearings, motors, and structural elements) will enable the arrangement, the combination of state in the atomic precision.  The practicality of physics and modeling engineering was analyzed in Drexler's Nanosystems book.

It is often very difficult to assemble devices at the atomic rate, as one has to place atoms in other atoms of the same size and adhesion. Another theory, developed by Carlo Montemagno,  is that future nanosystems will be the seed of silicon technology and biological machinery. Richard Smalley argued that mechanosynthesis was not possible because of the difficulty in controlling the production of individual molecules.

This led to a book exchange in ACS Chemical & Engineering News in 2003.  Although biology clearly shows that cellular mechanical systems are possible, non-biological cell machinery is still in its infancy. Leaders in non-biological cell research studies are Dr. Alex Zettl and colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and UC Berkeley. They have built at least three different cellular devices whose movement is controlled from a desktop with a dynamic force: a nanotube nanomotor, a molecular actuator, and a nanoelectromechanical relaxation oscillator.  See nanotube nanomotor for more examples.

Experiments showing that the interaction of cells from time to time may have been done by Ho and Lee at Cornell University in 1999. They used a scanning microscope to move a carbon monoxide (CO) molecule to a metal atom (Fe) sitting on a crystalline silver crystal, and chemically binding CO to Fe through voltage.

Current research

Nanomaterials

The field of nanomaterials includes underground environments that develop or study materials with different properties from their nanoscale sizes. 

The interface and colloid science have produced many useful materials for nanotechnology, such as carbon nanotubes and other fullerenes, and various nanoparticles and nanorods. Nanomaterials with fast ion transport are also related to nanoionics nanoelectronics.

Nanoscale objects can be used for many applications; many commercial applications of nanotechnology have this taste.

Progress has been made in the use of these medical applications; see Nanomedicine.

Nanoscale materials such as nanopillars are sometimes used in solar cells to combat the cost of silicon solar cells.

Development of applications including semiconductor nanoparticles that will be used in the next generation of products, such as display technology, lighting, solar cells, and natural imaging; see quantum dots.

Recent uses of nanomaterials include a wide range of biological applications, such as tissue synthesis, drug delivery, antibacterial, and biosensors.

Ways below

This requires organizing smaller sections into more complex meetings.

DNA nanotechnology uses Watson's specification - Crick base pairing to create well-defined structures without DNA and other nucleic acids.

Methods from the field of "classical" chemical synthesis (Inorganic and organic synthesis) also aim to design well-defined molecules.

Typically, cell discovery requires the application of supramolecular chemical concepts, as well as cell recognition, in particular, to create individual cell components to automatically organize themselves into a useful combination.

Atomic force microscope tips can be used as a nanoscale “scratch head” to apply the chemical on the face with the pattern you want in a process called dip-pen nanolithography. This method penetrates the lower part of the nanolithography.

Molecular Beam Epitaxy allows assemblies of ground materials, especially semiconductor materials commonly used in chip applications and computing, stacks, gating, and nanowire lasers.

Ways to go up

This requires creating smaller devices using larger ones to direct their assembly.

Many technologies derived from conventional solid-state silicon methods for making microprocessors are now able to create features less than 100 nm, which fall under the definition of nanotechnology. Large market-based hard drives remaining on the market correspond to this definition,  as do the atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques. Peter Grünberg and Albert Fert received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007 for their discovery of Giant magnetoresistance and contributions to the field of spintronics. 

Solid-state techniques can also be used to create devices known as nanoelectromechanical systems or NEMS, related to microelectromechanical systems or MEMS.

Concentrated ion beams can directly disassemble the equipment, or replace the equipment when the previous proper ventilation is used at the same time. For example, this method is frequently used to create less than 100 nm segments of analytical material in Transmission electron microscopy.

The tips of the Atomic force microscope can be used as a nanoscale "scratch head" to insert a resistor, which is followed by the extrusion process to remove the device at a higher rate.

Effective methods

This seeks to improve the required resources without regard to how they can be integrated.

Magnetic assembly of a combination of anisotropic superparamagnetic agents such as newly introduced magnetic chains.

Electronic scale electronics seeks to develop molecules with usable electrical properties. This can then be used as the components of a single molecule on an inactive electrical device.

Synthetic chemical methods can be used to create artificial molecular motors, such as nano cars.

Biomimetic methods

Bionics or biomimicry seeks to use biological methods and systems found in nature, in the study and design of modern engineering and technological systems. Biomineralization is one example of the systems studied.

Bionanotechnology is the use of biomolecule applications in nanotechnology, including the use of bacteria and lipid assemblies.  Nanocellulose is a powerful application.

Tools and techniques

There are several important modern developments. The atomic force microscope (AFM) and the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) are the first two types of scanning scanners that introduced nanotechnology. There are other types of microscopic scanning scans. Although the concept is similar to the scanning microscope scanner developed by Marvin Minsky in 1961 and the scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) developed by Calvin Quate and colleagues in the 1970s, new scanning microscopes have very high resolution, because they are not limited by sound or light length.

The scanning point can be used to treat nanostructures (a process called positional assembly). The feature-specific scanning method can be a promising way to apply these manipulations in the default mode. However, this is still a slow process due to the low microscope scanning scale

Various nanolithography methods such as optical lithography, X-ray lithography, dip-pen nanolithography, electron beam lithography, or nanoimprint lithography were also developed. Lithography is a high-performance synthetic method in which most of the material is reduced in size to the nanoscale pattern.

Another group of nanotechnological techniques includes those used for the production of nanotubes and nanowires, those used for semiconductor products such as ultraviolet lithography, electron beam lithography, ion-pressing machines, nanoimprint lithography, layering layer atoms, as well as cell insertion, continue to include molecular bonding techniques such as those that employ di-block copolymers. The precursors of these processes precede the nanotech era, and they are extensions in the construction of scientific advances than techniques designed for the sole purpose of building nanotechnology and which became the result of nanotechnology research. 

The up-and-down approach expects nanodevices to be built in pieces in stages, as is the case with synthetic materials. Scanning microscopy scanning is an important method for both drafting and assembling nanomaterials. Atomic force microscopes and scanning microscopes can be used to locate and move atoms. By designing tips that are different from these microscopes, they can be used to record buildings in a high-quality setting and to help guide the assembly structures. By using, for example, a method-specific scanning method, atoms or molecules can be transmitted to the surface by microscopy scanning techniques. Currently, it is expensive and time-consuming to produce in bulk but is more suitable for laboratory testing.

Conversely, low-rise techniques build or enrich large atomic structures atom or molecule by molecule. These methods include chemical synthesis, self-assembly, and position assembly. Dual polarization interferometry is a single tool suitable for the separation of small collected films. Another variation of the lower to upper extremity is the molecular beam epitaxy or MBE. Bell Telephone Lab Lab investigators such as John R. Arthur. Alfred Y. Cho and Art C. Gossard developed and used MBE as a research tool in the late 1960s and 1970s. Sample MBE samples were key to the discovery of the Quantum Hall Hall results for which the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded. The MBE allows scientists to set precise atomic layers and, during construction, to build complex structures. Important in research for semiconductors, MBE is also widely used to make samples and devices for the newly developed field of spintronics.

However, new medical products, based on reacting nanomaterials, such as vesicle Transformers, ultra deformable, and sensitive-sensitive vesicles, are ongoing and already approved for human use in other countries.

Applications

As of August 21, 2008, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies estimates that more than 800 products identified by the manufacturer of nanotech are publicly available, with new ones hitting the market at a rate of 3-4 per week.  The project lists all products in a publicly accessible online database. Most applications are limited to “first-generation” nanomaterial applications that include titanium dioxide in sunscreen, cosmetics, ground cover,  and other food products; Carbon allotropes are used to produce gecko tape; silver for packing food, clothing, disinfectants, and household appliances; zinc oxide in sunscreens and cosmetics, ground coverings, paints and varnishes for outdoor furniture; and cerium oxide as a fuel booster.

Additional applications allow tennis balls to last longer, golf balls to straighten, and bowling balls to be stronger and have a harder face. Pants and socks have been incorporated into nanotechnology to last longer and keep people cool in the summer. Bands are fitted with silver nanoparticles to heal cuts quickly.  Video game consoles and your computers can be cheaper, faster, and contain more memory due to nanotechnology. Also, to build light computing chip structures, for example in chip optical data processing data, and to transmit information by picosecond. 

Nanotechnology can have the ability to make existing apps cheaper and easier to use in places such as a general doctor's office and at home.  Cars are made of nanomaterials and may need less metal and less fuel to operate in the future.

Scientists are now turning to nanotechnology in an effort to make clean diesel engines cleaner. Platinum is currently used as a diesel engine in these engines. The catalyst is the purifier of exhaust fume particles. It was first used to reduce nitrogen reduction in NOx molecules to release oxygen. Next, the oxidation catalyst combines hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide to form carbon dioxide and water.  Platinum is used in all degradation and oxidation catalysts. Platinum is used, it does not work because it is expensive and cannot be stored. Danish company InnovationsFonden has invested 15 million DKK in the search for new catalyst substitutes using nanotechnology. The aim of the project, launched in the fall of 2014, is to expand the surface area and reduce the number of resources required. Things tend to reduce their supernatural powers; two drops of water, for example, will join to form one drop and reduce the surface area. If the area of ​​the catalyst exposed to the extraction agent is increased, the efficiency of the catalyst is increased. The team working on this project aims to create nanoparticles that will not combine. Every time the place is repaired, the property is kept. Therefore, the creation of these nanoparticles will improve the performance of the emerging diesel engine — which will lead to the smell of cleaning fumes — and will reduce costs. If successful, the group hopes to reduce the use of platinum by 25%. 

Nanotechnology also plays an important role in the rapidly evolving field of Tissue Engineering. When designing scaffolds, researchers are trying to mimic the nanoscale features of a tiny cell environment in order to guide its distinction into the appropriate genealogy. For example, when scaffolding was built to support bone growth, researchers could mimic the holes in retrieving osteoclast resorption. 

Researchers have successfully used DNA-based nanobots from origami to perform logic tasks to achieve drug delivery to cockroaches. It is said that the computer power of these nanobots could be increased to that of Commodore 64.

Health and environmental concerns

Nanofibers are used in a number of areas and in various products, from everything from aircraft wings to tennis rackets. Inhalation of atmospheric nanoparticles and nanofibers can lead to many lung diseases, e.g. fibrosis.  Researchers have found that when mice inhaled with nanoparticles, the particles settled in the brain and lungs, leading to a significant increase in biomarkers by inflammation and stress response and that nanoparticles induced skin aging by oxidative stress in hairless mice.

A two-year study at UCLA's School of Public Health found that mice using nano-titanium dioxide showed DNA and chromosome damage to a level "linked to all major human killers, namely cancer, heart disease, neurological disease, and aging". 

A major study recently published in Nature Nanotechnology shows that some forms of carbon nanotubes - a poster child of the "nanotechnology revolution" - can be as dangerous as asbestos if inhaled in sufficient quantities. Anthony Seaton of the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland, who contributed to the issue of carbon nanotubes, said: "We know that some of them may have the potential to cause mesothelioma. So those types of building materials need to be treated with great care."  In the absence of specific regulation from governments, Paull and Lyons (2008) have proposed the removal of synthetic nanoparticles from food. An article in the newspaper reports that workers in a paint factory contracted a serious lung disease and that nanoparticles were found in their lungs.

What Are the Benefits of Developing Countries?

Nanotechnology holds the promise of new solutions to problems that hinder the development of poor countries, especially in terms of health and sanitation, food security, and the environment. In its 2005 report entitled Innovation: using knowledge in development, the UN Millennium Project task force on science technology and innovation wrote that "nanotechnology is probably the most important in developing countries because it includes fewer workers, land or care; it is more productive and cheaper and requires only a limited amount of building materials and energy ".

How Nanotechnology can improve drug delivery

But nanotechnology can also one day lead to less expensive, more reliable drug delivery systems. For example, nanoscale-based materials can provide encapsulation systems that protect and hide implanted drugs in a slow and controlled manner. This can be an important solution for countries that do not have adequate storage facilities and distribution networks, and for patients on complex medical devices that cannot afford the time or money to travel long distances through medical visits.

Nanoscale Filters and Nanoparticles May Be Used for Cleansing the Environment

Small filters of wastewater, for example, can filter out industrial plants, eliminating even the smallest residue before they are released into the environment. The same filters can clean up pollutants from industrial fire plants. Also, nanoparticles can be used to clean oil spills, separate oil and sand, and remove it from the rocks and feathers of birds caught in the spill.

Concerns about Nanoparticles and Toxins

Studies have shown that equivalent particles accumulate in the nostrils, lungs, and brain of rats and that carbon nanomaterials known as 'buckyballs' cause brain damage in fish. Vyvyan Howard, a toxicologist at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, has warned that small amounts of nanoparticles can make them toxic, and warns that a complete risk assessment is needed before a product can be licensed.

A look at Nanotechnology from the Viewpoint of Developing Countries

"The vital work of nanotech is already taking place in developing countries," wrote the UN Millennium Project team responsible for science technology, and innovation in its 2005 report. "This work could be hampered by a debate that fails to address the vision of developing countries." The authors then warned that this work could be ruined if public and policy discussions failed to take into account the views of developing countries. At the time of writing, a global stakeholder dialogue continued to identify potential impacts of nanotechnology in those countries

Nano-Conveyor Belt, 'DNA Robots' and Spinning Molecular Structures

This view is contrary to current reality and while some warn that duplicating 'nanobots' is a serious threat to humanity, others dismiss the idea as impossible. However, the recent production of a nano-conveyor belt that transmits particles instead of each nanotube shows great progress, as is the construction of a 'DNA Robot' of ten nanometers in length that can 'walk' along the DNA path. Another notable development is the discovery of surrounding molecules, which announce the possibility of generating electricity and controlled movement.

The conclusion

Exploring the role of nanotechnology and directing its development will require the involvement of various sectors of scientists, governments, civil society, and the general public. Informed debate is important in trying to avoid the divisions of opinion that are shown by the genetic problem. This ‘quick guide’ aims to provide a variety of relevant information for those who would like to better understand and participate in this important debate.