About Nanotechnology

                     NANOTECHNOLOGY

Hello viewers in this article I am going to explain about one of the leading emerging technology i.e, nanotechnology. so let us see about that.

         Truly revolutionary nanotechnology products,materials and applications,such as nanorobotics are years in the future.What qualifies as nanotechnology  today is basic R&D that is happening in laboratories all over the world. Where some form of  nano technology enabled materials such as carbon nanotubes, nanocomposite structures or nanotechnology process (e.g. nanopattering or quantum dots in medical) is used in manufacturing process .In their going quest to improve existing products by creating smaller components and better performance materials,all at a lower cost,the no.of companies manufacturing nanoproducts  will grow very fast and soon make up the majority of all companies across many industries.

              so what exactly is nanotechnology?One of the problems facing nanotechnology is the confusion about definition.Most definitions revolve around the study & control the phenomena & materials at length scales below 100 nm & quite often they make a comparison with a human hair, which is about 80,000 nm wide.

New nanomaterials: 

                          Nanomaterials can be constructed by 'top-down' techniques,producing very small structures from large pieces for eg. by etching circuits on the surface of a silicon microchip.They may be also constructed by 'bottom-up' techniques ,atom by atom or molecule by molecule.It has been 25 years since the scanning tunelling microscope(STM)  was invented,followed 4 years later by the atom force microscope & that is when nanotechnology & nanoscience really started to take off.

Current Applications of nanomaterials:

                                    

1.sunscreens & cosmetics:

              Nanosized titanium dioxide & zinc oxide are currently used in some sunscreens, as they absorb & reflect UV rays & yet are transparent to visible light and so are more appealing to the consumer. Nano-sized iron oxide is present in some lipsticks as a pigment.The use of nanoparticles in cosmetics has raised a no.of concerns about consumer safety.

2.composites: 

                currently,carbon fibers & bundles of  multi-walled CNTs are used in polymers to control or enhance conductivity , with applications such as antistatic packaging.The use of individual CNTs in composites is a potential long-term application.A particular type of nanocomposite is where nanoparticals act as fillers in matrix,for example, carbon black used as a filler to reinforce car tyres. 

3.clay:

        clays containing naturally occurring nanoparticles have long been imp as construction materials & are undergoing continuous  improvement. Clay particle-based composites, containing plastics and nano-sized flakes of clay , are also finding applications such as use in car bumpers.

                

              Not only these but there are also some long term applications in next 5-15 years , some of them are:

• Carbon nanotube composites
• Magnetic materials
• Medical implants
• Machinable ceramics
• Water purification
• Military battle suits
• Fibers & fabrics
• CNT ceramics 
• Biomedical applications 
• Air,water & gas filtration

                             So,finally this technology is developing new instruments to be able to see at the nanoscale is a research field in itself.