Nano-technology

Nanoscience involves research to discover new behaviors and properties of materials with dimensions at the nanoscale which ranges roughly from 1 to 100 nanometers(nm). Nanotechnology is the way discoveries made at the nanoscale are put to work. Nanotechnology is more than throwing together a batch of nanoscale materials - it requires the ability to manipulate and control those materials in a useful way.

According the other sources, nanotechnology (sometimes shortened to "nanotech") is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale, i.e., is the engineering of tiny machines — the projected ability to build things from the bottom up, using techniques and tools being developed today to make complete, highly advanced products.

‘Nano’ means ‘billionth of a meter’. One billionth of a meter is one meter divided by one billion (1000,000,000), that is 0.00000001 cm.

History of Nanotechnology

InspirationWhat could have inspired scientist to think of minute Nano-sized things? Nature. It needed the genius of that charismatic physicts, Richard Feynman. Feynman on December 29, 1959 delivered a lecture on “There’s plenty of room at the bottom” but everyone considered him as crazy.

But not genius K.Eric drexler, and he only coined the term ‘Nanotechnology’. These two great legends on the field of Nanotechnology became the inspiration for the development of Nano-tech. He is now considered as the “FATHER OF NANOTECHNOLOGY”

But before all these 20th century genius, our 4th century genius have noted the Nanomaterials available in nature and made some articles using these.

The Application of Nanotechnology from

the Previouses Centuries

The Lycurgus Cup

The Lycurgus Cup made from glass appears red in transmitted light and green in reflected light. The glass contains 70nm particles as seen in an electron microscopic image. The cup itself is dated to 4th century AD, but the metallic holder is a later addition.

Today we manipulate matter such as silicon with optical methods so that transistors and integrated circuits are made, with which we built the era of information, technology. The dimensions of materials manipulated got systematically reduced with time and the modern Core i7 chip has above 700 millions of transistors in it (developed based on 45nm fabrication process).

Rapid growth requirements in computing capabilities necessitated smaller and smaller transistors so that devices could shrink in size; this is popularly referred to as the Moore’s Law which may be stated as,' Number of transistors in an integrated circuit double in every 18months’.

The Applications of Nanotechnology in the Next

Generation

Graphene

Graphene is a rival of silicon and it an allotrope of carbon that will eventually revolutionize electronic devices ranging from supercomputers to cell phones. Graphene-based nanoelectronic devices will be faster, less power-consuming than silicon, and much thinner.

Molecules in Jeans as Solar Cells

Molecules, typically used in blue jeans and ink dyes, have been used for building and organic framework that could lead to economical, flexible and versatile solar cell.

Print Display Almost Anywhere

Ntera, a US-based company, has developed a nanotechnology mass-produce electronic displays on a wide range of paper, packaging, ticket and greeting card products.

Memristors- A Memory and Logic Device

Memristor logic devices are quite smaller than devices made from transistors, enabling packing more computing power into a given space. Memristor arrays performing both logic and memory functions would eliminate transferring data between a processor and a hard drive in future.

Nanorobots

In the fields of molecular computing and robotics, researches in Caltech, USA, have created robots the size of a molecule that can move freely across a nanoscale track. The achievement would lead molecular robots to fix individual cells or assemble nanoproducts. The project involves reprogramming DNA molecules to perform in specific ways.

Nanotech based robots have been used for cell surgery and even these robots can be sent through the blood stream and can identify the damaged parts which cannot be found using x-rays, etc.

Nanorobots performing Cell Surgery

Nano-Robot

Nanorobots in the Blood Stream

Nanorobots

Not only these the Nanorobots has got many

advantages

It is dame as nano-robots

Sensor and CPU subsystem Robots

Nanotechnology and medicine

Nanotechnology will provide new tools for medicine. It could radically change the way surgery is done. It will make it possible to do molecular scale surgery to replace defective cells, repair and rearrange cells. Since disease is the result of physical disorder, misarranged molecules and cells, medicine at this level should be able to cure most diseases. Mutations in DNA could be repaired and cancer cells, toxic chemicals and viruses could be destroyed through the use of medical Nano devices.

Nanotechnology has found innumerable applications in the field of medicine, particularly in treatment of cancer. It has the Power to radically change the way cancer is diagnosed, imaged and treated. Currently, there is a lot of research going on to design novel Nano devices capable of detecting cancer at its earliest stages, pinpointing its location within the body and delivering anticancer drugs specifically to malignant cells.

Carbon nanotube 'muscles' could aid drug

deliveryArtificial muscles strong enough to rotate

objects 1,000 times their own weight have been invented by an international team of researchers.

The development could lead to the realisation of a propulsion system for Nano robots that can deliver drugs or remove parasites. Using yarns of carbon nanotubes, the researchers developed artificial muscles that can rotate 250 degrees per millimetre of muscle length.

This is claimed to be more than 1,000 times that of available artificial muscles, composed of either shape-memory alloys, conducting organic polymers; or ferroelectrics, a class of materials that can hold positive and negative electric charges even in the absence of voltage.

The nanotube yarns are activated by charging them in a salt solution and deformation of the yarns is reportedly proportional to the size and number of ions inserted.

Nanotechnology Used to Measure Low

Concentrations of Cyanide Ion in Water Iranian researchers successfully measured low

concentrations of the toxic and harmful cyanide ion in aqueous environments by using nanotechnology. “synthetic Silver nanoparticles were used in the research as the colorimetric sensor in order to measure low concentrations of cyanide ion in aqueous environments.

The purpose of this research was to present a simple, cost-effective, selective, and sensitive method for the measurement of low concentrations of the toxic and dangerous cyanide ion in water by using nanotechnology.

The pollution of water reservoirs with cyanide compounds is among the important environmental challenges. Most of the reported colorimetric methods to measure cyanide are based on organic colors, so they are applicable in organic environments. Therefore, it is necessary to present a simple and cost-effective method to measure cyanide in aqueous solution.

Creating a transistor with a single atom

In Technology there is a strong desire to shrink things. Consider the sheer amount of news these days surrounding nanotechnology: it is arguably one of the fastest growing sectors in technology. Recent news out of two universities on potentially ground-breaking work on single-atom transistors should not be that surprising, then. Scientists have created a transistor the size of a single atom, opening the way for the next generation of nanotechnology: a quantum computer that might one day function in a Nano scale world and would be significantly smaller and quicker than today's silicon-based machines. Until now, single-atom transistors were created on a hit-or-miss basis.

Entire Medical Lab in a high powered chip

Recent developments in Nanotechnology and medicine makes it possible to put an entire medical lab into one high-powered chip, which not only fits in the palm of your hand, but also performs diagnostic tests in a matter of minutes. Researchers are gradually finding ways to create reliable, Nano-sized labs that are able to perform a variety of diagnostic tests, which used to require teams of people and weeks of waiting. The tiny wafers of glass or plastic work by compressing a series of tests. For example, the Guardian reports Professor Tom Duke at the London Centre for Nanotechnology is working on a "lab-on-a-chip" to test for HIV.

Advantages of Nano-tech

• Nanotech materials which are more stronger and the main thing is it cannot be damaged easily.

• The e-waste which is a part of Land pollution can be controlled.• New molecules, materials and artificial structures which are

functional made in the lab.• Solar energy conversion will be much more efficient and cheap

by the use of nanotech.• Diseases will be diagnosed using molecular principles such as

detecting cancer at the single cell level by using scenned or nano-robot.The medical advantages are change of body appearance, stops aging process, immortality, painless child births, and universal immunity like aids, flu and end of sickness.

The advantages of Nanotechnology in

medicine

The medical advantages are change of body appearance, stops aging process, immortality, painless child births, and universal immunity like aids, flu and end of sickness.

The Advantages of Nanotechnology in

Industrial

The industrial advantages are automatic pollution cleanup, expanding computer technology by making it faster and smaller in size. The social advantages include, reproducing extinct animals and plants, safe and space travel, higher education, molecular food synthesis, to mention a few.

Disadvantages of Nanotechnology

• The engineered robots will perform jobs instead of people which will result in a loss of jobs.

• The wastes released while making the materials for nano-technology are released into the atmosphere and can even penetrate human and animal cells and effect their performance.

• Agricultural countries will lose their income as nanotechnology will take over.• It has very high initial investment costs along with high manufacturing costs.• If any damage is done at the molecular level then it is not possible to revert it.• Global monetary crisis, oil becomes worthless, diamonds become worthless,

atomic weapons more destructive and accessible. In relation to health problems, it is so minute that its existence in the hand is much unnoticed. The risk of inhaling this could be very dangerous, due to which it can be a cause of death.

Conclusion

Science itself could be shaken by nanotechnology. The vitally important elementary particle, electron, the backbone of electronics and the electronics industry, has been found to behave in a bizarre manner in the very minute Nano-structures. Not only Nanotech even Biotech, Green Chemistry and so on can also be made use for minimizing the pollution in the world.

By:Muhammad Yossi Hadiyoso

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