Nanotechnology is ironically becoming larger by the day, but not literally. As a field, Nanotechnology impacts each and every one of us more every single day. but How?
let's explore it...
firstly...
WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY?
NANOTECHNOLOGY is a manipulation of materials on an atomic or molecular scale especially to build microscopic devices (such as robots) Placing atoms as though they were bricks, nanotechnology will give us complete control over the structure of matter, allowing us to build any substance or structure permitted by the laws of nature.
Norio Taniguchi of the Tokyo University of Science suggested describing the technology that strives for precision at the level of about one nanometer.
A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. The prefix “nano-” comes from the Greek word Nanos, meaning dwarf. (Scientists originally used the prefix just to indicate “very small,” as in “nanoplankton,” but it now means one-billionth, just as “milli-” means one-thousandth, and “micro-” means one-millionth.)
If a nanometer were somehow magnified to appear as long as the nose on your face, then a red blood cell would appear the size of the Empire State Building, a human hair would be about two or three miles wide, one of your fingers would span the continental United States, and a normal person would be about as tall as six or seven planet Earth piled atop one another.
when we study any particle at its subatomic level its core properties will be observed differently than its actual state, because when the particles get bigger and bigger, their surface area increases, due to it the chances of reacting to the surroundings increases.
In 1981, scientists gained a sophisticated new tool powerful enough to allow them to see single atoms with unprecedented clarity. The device is called a scanning tunneling microscope. which uses a tiny electric current and a very fine needle to detect the height of individual atoms.
The images taken with these microscopes look like tumulose alien landscapes — and researchers learned how to rearrange those landscapes, once they discovered that the scanning tunneling microscope could also be used to pick up, move, and precisely place atoms, one at a time.
HOW NANOTECHNOLOGY CAN ENHANCE THE CONSERVATION OF OUR PLANET AND THE HUMAN RACE?
Producing clean energy hydrogen has been a pipe dream for researchers for decades. But most of the previous methods tried were too costly and produced harmful emissions. That tide is beginning to turn now as scientists begin to find less costly and more efficient ways of producing clean hydrogen — and its great potential as a reliable clean source of fuel.
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a nanoscale material that can efficiently split seawater into oxygen and clean energy hydrogen.
The novel material offers the high performance and stability needed for industrial-scale electrolysis in this process. If the researchers are able to perfect the extraction of this form of renewable energy, it could provide a great tool for combating climate change — one of the biggest existential threats faced by humanity currently.
Hydrogen could be converted into electricity to use in fuel cell technology that generates water as a product — thus creating a sustainable energy cycle. For this study, researchers developed a thin-film material with nanostructures on the surface made of nickel selenide, with added, or “doped,” iron and phosphor.
There are enormous advantages due to nanotech when it comes out commercially. Still, research is going on how to make a product out of it without any side effects.
It will be a solution to plastic, climate change, pollution, etc...
PROCESS BEHIND BUILDING A NANOTECH PRODUCT
Manufacturing at the nanoscale is known as nanomanufacturing.
Nanomanufacturing involves scaled-up, reliable, and cost-effective manufacturing of nanoscale materials, structures, devices, and systems. It also includes research, development, and integration of top-down processes and increasingly complex bottom-up or self-assembly processes.
There are two basic approaches to nanomanufacturing, either top-down or bottom-up.
- Top-down fabrication reduces large pieces of materials all the way down to the nanoscale, like someone carving a model airplane out of a block of wood. This approach requires larger amounts of materials and can lead to waste if excess material is discarded.
- The bottom-up approach to nanomanufacturing creates products by building them up from atomic- and molecular-scale components, which can be time-consuming. Scientists are exploring the concept of placing certain molecular-scale components together that will spontaneously “self-assemble,” from the bottom up into ordered structures.
Within the top-down and bottom-up categories of nanomanufacturing, there are a growing number of new processes that enable nanomanufacturing. Among these are:
Chemical vapor deposition is a process in which chemicals react to produce very pure, high-performance films.
Molecular beam epitaxy is one method for depositing highly controlled thin films.
Atomic layer epitaxy is a process for depositing one-atom-thick layers on a surface.
Dip pen lithography is a process in which the tip of an atomic force microscope is "dipped" into a chemical fluid and then used to "write" on a surface, like an old-fashioned ink pen onto paper.
Nanoimprint lithography is a process for creating nanoscale features by "stamping" or "printing" them onto a surface.
Roll-to-roll processing is a high-volume process to produce nanoscale devices on a roll of ultrathin plastic or metal.
Structures and properties of materials can be improved through these nanomanufacturing processes. Such nanomaterials can be stronger, lighter, more durable, water-repellent, anti-reflective, self-cleaning, ultraviolet- or infrared-resistant, antifog, antimicrobial, scratch-resistant, or electrically conductive, among other traits.
Taking advantage of these properties, today's nanotechnology-enabled products range from baseball bats and tennis rackets to catalysts for refining crude oil and ultrasensitive detection and identification of biological and chemical toxins.
NANOTECH IN MEDICINE:
The use of nanotechnology in medicine offers some exciting possibilities. Some techniques are only imagined, while others are at various stages of testing, or actually being used today.
Nanotechnology in medicine involves applications of nanoparticles currently under development, as well as longer-range research that involves the use of manufactured nano-robots to make repairs at the cellular level (sometimes referred to as nanomedicine).
Whatever you call it, the use of nanotechnology in the field of medicine could revolutionize the way we detect and treat damage to the human body and disease in the future, and many techniques only imagined a few years ago are making remarkable progress towards becoming realities.
Nanotechnology in Medicine Application:
- Drug Delivery:
One application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light, or other substances to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells). Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease.
- Diagnostic Techniques:
Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are using antibodies attached to carbon nanotubes in chips to detect cancer cells in the bloodstream. The researchers believe this method could be used in simple lab tests that could provide early detection of cancer cells in the bloodstream.
The method uses gold nanorods functionalized to attach to the type of protein generated by damaged kidneys. When protein accumulates on the nanorod the color of the nanorod shifts. The test is designed to be done quickly and inexpensively for early detection of a problem.
- Antibacterial Treatments:
Researchers at the University of Houston are developing a technique to kill bacteria using gold nanoparticles and infrared light. This method may lead to improved cleaning of instruments in hospital settings.
- Cell Repair:
Nanorobots could actually be programmed to repair specific diseased cells, functioning in a similar way to antibodies in our natural healing processes.
and etc...
NANOBOTS:
When we talk about nanobots today the reference mostly is to self-propelled nanomotors and other biodegradable nanodevices made of bio-nano components, which carry cargo to the target sites, i.e. deliver drugs to diseased cells.
For instance, these nanorobots can be programmed to transport molecular payloads and cause on-site tumor blood supply blockages, which can lead to tissue death and shrink the tumor.
Nano Bots in Medical Science can be used in - Biomedical applications of quantum dots include microscopy and multiplexed histology, flow-cytometry, drug delivery, photodynamic therapy, in vivo whole animal and clinical imaging (e.g., angiography), tissue mapping and demarcation, e.g., sentinel lymph node), real-time detection of intracellular events, signaling, etc.
Newmarket research suggests the nanobots market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 25 percent between 2021 and 2029, starting from $121.6 billion in 2020. ... These and many such factors are driving the adoption of nanobots and fuelling the growth of this market.
If human trials go forward, these tiny robots could be revolutionary in treating cancer and in other cell research. There are still a large number of hurdles to overcome, however, before injected nanorobots would be able to surpass current forms of treatment.
Nanoparticles that are not absorbed by the gut or the lungs eventually leave the body in the feces - either directly or after they are moved up from the lungs by normal clearance of mucus and then swallowed.
OUTRO:
Nanotechnology is helping to considerably improve, even revolutionize, many technologies and industry sectors: information technology, homeland security, medicine, transportation, energy, food safety, and environmental science, among many others.
but it also has its disadvantages - Nanoparticles can get into the body through the skin, lungs, and digestive system. This may help create free radicals which can cause cell damage and damage to the DNA. There is also concern that once nanoparticles are in the bloodstream they will be able to cross the blood-brain barrier. Researchers are still working on it to overcome these problems.
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Thank you for reading 🤗
happy learning
-JHA