There is a saying - Good Things Come In Small Packages. Nanotechnology is certainly materialising this saying. It has become the new mantra of today's researchers who are working in It is also known as molecular nanotechnology or molecular manufacturing. It has the potential of making almost every manufactured product faster, lighter, stronger, smarter, safer and cleaner, and even more precise. This manipulation of tiny elements will and can enable a host of new developments, including furniture that can think, cars that change colour, even mobile phones with Breathalysers - which will warn us of excessive drinking. And just like any new science or finding it too has its own share of advantages and disadvantages. So what is actually - Nanotechnology. To begin with Nano - It is a prefix meaning 10^-9 or one-billionths and is used loosely to mean Small. In the simple sense, it is the Science of The Small. Scientifically, speaking Nanotechnology is the design and control of things at a nano-scale (100 nanometres and below). To put this into some sort of perspective, 100nm is one-thousandth of the width of a human hair and roughly 500 times the size of an atom. The branch of engineering that deals with things smaller than 100 nanometers (especially with the manipulation of individual molecules) are known as Nanotechnology. The comparative size of a nanometer to a meter is the same as that of a marble to the size of the earth.
Approaches used in Nanotechnology
There are two types of approaches that are used in Nanotechnology. They are:
- Bottom-Up Approach: In this materials and devices are built from molecular components which assemble themselves chemically by principles of molecular recognition. These seek to arrange smaller components into more complex assemblies.
- Top-Down Approach: In this approach, nano-objects are constructed from larger entities without atomic-level control. These seek to create smaller devices by using larger ones to direct their assembly.
The first use of the concepts in 'nano-technology' was in "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom," a talk given by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29, 1959. Feynman 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, and so on down to the needed scale. K. Eric Drexler popularized the word 'nanotechnology' in the 1980's. He is a researcher and author whose work focuses on advanced Nano-technologies and directions for current research. Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology is considered the first book on the topic of nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology and Nanoscience got started in the early 1980s with two major developments:
- The birth of cluster science.
- The invention of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM). This development led to the discovery of fullerenes in 1985 and carbon nanotubes a few years later. In another development, the synthesis and properties of semiconductor nanocrystals were studied; this led to a fast increasing number of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles and quantum dots. The atomic force microscope was invented six years after the STM was invented. In 2000, the United States National Nanotechnology Initiative was founded to coordinate Federal nanotechnology research and development.
Usages of Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology has the potential to create many new materials and devices with wide-ranging applications such as in medicine, electronics, and energy production. Most applications are limited to the use of "first generation" passive nano-materials which includes titanium dioxide in sunscreen, cosmetics, some food products, carbon allotrope's used to produce gecko tape, silver in food packaging, clothing, disinfectants and household appliances; zinc oxide in sunscreens and cosmetics, surface coatings, paints and outdoor furniture varnishes and cerium oxide as a fuel catalyst.
Advantages oF Nanotechnology
- In not many years, scientists will be to manufacture products with almost every atom in its right place, without much of a big cost. Cars that weight 50 kg, full-sized sofas that could be picked up with one hand, inexpensive manufacture of very strong and very light materials. Shatterproof diamonds in precise shapes in huge quantities and produce steel which is over fifty times lighter than steel of the same strength.
- Nanotechnology will dramatically reduce the costs and increase the capabilities of space ships and space flight.
- Mass storage devices that can store more than a hundred billion bytes in a volume the size of a sugar cube, RAM that can store a mere billion bytes in such a volume and massively parallel computers of the same size that can deliver a billion instructions per second can be manufactured.
- Medical technology would let us directly heal the injuries at the molecular and cellular level that are the root causes of disease and ill health which has not been possible up until now.
- Solar cells and its equipment will become cheaper and make solar power economical.
- Weapons will become more advanced. It will allow them to perform real-time image analysis of their surroundings and communicate with weapons tracking systems to acquire and navigate to targets with greater precision and control. Manufacturing weapons will become both inexpensive and much more rapid at the same time taking full advantage of the remarkable materials properties of diamond.
Disadvantages of Nanotechnology
- Untraceable weapons of mass destruction, networked cameras for use by the government and weapons developments fast enough to destabilize arms races will create an Arms Race and Warfare will become more destructive and lethal, having consequences which may not even be realised.
- Industrial-scale manufacturing and use of nanomaterials will have a great negative effect on human health and the environment according to nanotoxicology research. Researchers have discovered that silver nanoparticles used in socks only to reduce foot odour are being released into the wash with possible negative consequences. Silver nanoparticles, which are bacteriostatic, may then destroy beneficial bacteria which are important for breaking down organic matter in waste treatment plants or farms. Some forms of carbon nanotubes could be as harmful as asbestos if inhaled in sufficient quantities.
- Another major disadvantage is that Nano Technology is actually very expensive, so not everyone can buy it or afford it. It is also very hard to create and adjust molecules. These are also very delicate and a single molecule of powder or dust can damage the whole thing while it is being created/ formed.
- Nanotechnology is itself a new technology and therefore it's understanding is limited. Because of which there is no proper regulatory body concerned.
- Another disadvantage related to its limited understanding is human health and safety risks associated with it. Nanotechnology's harmful effects are still needed to be researched, without which it's harmful effects will remain unknown.
- While some non-nanotechnology specific regulatory agencies currently cover some products and processes to a certain extent in spite of existing regulations – there are still clear gaps in these. Risks associated with the release of nanoparticles and nanotubes are as deadly as mad cow’s disease, thalidomide, genetically modified food, nuclear energy, reproductive technologies, biotechnology and asbestosis. But at the same time, this technology has immense potential which can revolutionise the modern world. And this aspect cannot be ignored. Though Nanotechnology is predicted to be developed by 2020 it's usage will decide it's outcome - harmful or beneficial.
