APPLICATION OF NANOTECHNOLOGY IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

APPLICATION OF NANOTECHNOLOGY IN CONSTRUCTION
Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale.
Nanotechnology is concerned with objects between 1 and 100nm in size.( Nano meter)

1 Nanometer – 1 x 10-9m.

Applications of nano technology in civil engineering are numerous. Some of the applications are elaborated below.

Application in concrete:
Addition of nanoscale materials into cement could improve its performance. Use of nano-SiO2 could significantly increase the compressive for concrete, containing large volume fly ash, at early age and improve pore size distribution by filling the pores between large fly ash and cement particles at nanoscale. The dispersion/slurry of amorphous nanosilica is used to improve segregation resistance for self-compacting concrete. It has also been reported that adding small amount of carbonnanotube (1%) by weight could increase both compressive and flexural strength.


Cracking is a major concern for many structures. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is working on healing polymers, which include a microencapsulated healing agent and a catalytic chemical trigger. When the microcapsules are broken by a crack, the healing agent is released into the crack and contact with the catalyst. The polymerization happens and bond the crack faces. The selfhealing polymer could be especially applicable to fix the microcracking in bridge piers and columns. But it requires costly epoxy injection.


Application in Steel

Steel is a major construction material. Its properties, such as strength, corrosion resistance, and weld ability, are very important for the design and construction. It is possible to develop new, low carbon, highperformance steel (HPS). The new steel was developed with higher corrosion-resistance and weld ability by incorporating copper nanoparticles from at the steel grain boundaries.

Coating
The coatings incorporating certain nanoparticles or nanolayers have been developed for certain purpose. It is one of the major applications of nanotechnology in construction. For example, TiO2 is used to coat glazing because of its sterilizing and anti fouling properties. The TiO2 will break down and disintegrate organic dirt through powerful catalytic reaction. Furthermore, it is hydrophilic, which allow the water to spread evenly over the surface and wash away dirt previously broken down. Other special coatings also have been developed, such as anti-fraffiti, thermal control, energy sawing, antireflection coating.

Nanosensors
Sensors have been developed and used in construction to monitor and/or control the environment condition and the materials/structure performance. One advantage of these sensors is their dimension (10 -9m to 10-5m). These sensors could be embedded into the structure during the construction process. Smart aggregate, a low cost piezoceramic-based multi-functional device, has been applied to monitor early age concrete properties such as moisture, temperature, relative humidity and early age strength development. The sensors can also be used to monitor concrete corrosion and cracking. The smart aggregate can also be used for structure health monitoring. The disclosed system can monitor internal stresses, cracks and other physical forces in the structures during the structures’ life. It is capable of providing an early indication of the health of the structure before a failure of the structure can occur.

Applications Of Nanotechnology In Textiles And Other Fields

Nanotechnology is an emerging interdisciplinary technology that has been booming in many areas during the recent decade, including materials science, mechanics, electronics, optics, medicine, plastics, energy, electronics, and aerospace. Its profound societal impact has been considered as the huge momentum to usher in a second industrial revolution. The "nanD" in nanotechnolgy comes from the Greek word "nanos" that means dwarf. Scientists use this prefix to indicate 1 0-9 or one-billionth. One nanometer is one-billionth meter that is about 1 00,000 times smaller than the diameter of a single human hair.

Nanotechnology endeavors are aimed at manipulating atoms, molecules and nanosize particles in a precise and controlled manner in order to build materials with a fundamentally new organization and novel properties. The embryo of nanotechnology is "atomic assembly", which was first publicly articulated in 1959 by physicist Richard Feynman. Nanotechnology is called a "bottom up" technology by which bulk materials can be built precisely in tiny building blocks, different from the traditional manufacture "top down" technology. Therefore, resultant materials have fewer defects and higher quality. The fundamentals of nanotechnology lie in the fact that properties of substances dramatically change when their size is reduced to the nanometer range. When a ulk material is divided into small size particles with one or more dimension (length, width, or thickness) in the nanometer range or even smaller, the individual particles exhibit unexpected properties, different from those of the bulk material. It is known that atoms and molecules possess totally different behaviors than those of bulk materials; while the properties of the former are described by quantum mechanics, the properties of the latter are governed by classic mechanics. Between these two distinct domains, the nanometer range is a murky threshold for the transition of a material's behavior. For example, ceramics, which normally are brittle, can easily be made deformable when their grain size is reduced to the low nanometer range. A gold particle of 1 nm across shows red color. Moreover, a small amount of nanosize species can interfere with matrix polymer that is usually in the similar size range, bringing up the performance of resultant system to an unprecedented level. These are the reasons why nanotechnology has attracted large amounts of federal funding, research activity and media attention. The textile industry has already impacted by nanotechnology. Research involving nanotechnology to improve performances or to create unprecedented functions of textile materials are flourishing. These research endeavors are mainly focused on using nanosize substances and generating nanostructures during manufacturing and finishing processes.

Nanotechnology - A Process of Evolution

Anyone that realizes that nanotechnology news and the headlines related to nano news are ever-changing, also must realize that nanotechnology is a field that is under the process of a rapid evolution. There are many new nanotechnology jobs currently opening up and anyone currently pursuing the study of Nanoscience is assured that there will be plenty of nano jobs in the future. New facilities and scientific teams are being established and assembled all the time, and the more advances that are made in the field of nanotechnology, the more promising the nano jobs outlook will be. Nano news headlines will continue to evolve as the field of nanotechnology evolves and reveals the endless discoveries and inventions being created by nanotech researchers from all over the world.

We need to be clear about the difference between Nanoscience and nanotechnology before we begin to note all of the advances being made in the field. First, Nanoscience is simply the study of nanostructures, while nanotechnology is the implementation and application of such understandings in various industries throughout the world. In the nanotechnology field, new students of Nanoscience will be entering into the industry in search of nano jobs that match their level of skill and educational focus. This shouldn't be a problem however as the food, medical, space, cosmetic, and electronic industries are turning to the use of nanotechnologies to improve upon industry operations, manufacturing, and processing.

The word Nanotechnology is making it on nanotechnology news headlines nearly every day. More universities are offering coursework and programs specifically for the pursuit of Nanoscience studies; this is to address the future demand for nanotech researchers and this is a positive sign for those seeking nanotechnology jobs, both now and in the future. Students of Nanoscience will primarily focus on the study of nanostructures and how such structures can be manipulated. When moving into the field of nanotechnology and working in various nanotechnology jobs, nano researchers will usually deal with two chief forms of nanotechnology: bottom up and top down nanotechnologies. The latter forms of nanotechnology refer to the directional operation of such workings; Top down nanotech work involves the miniaturization of structures while the bottom down nanotechnology field focuses on the enlargement of various structures.

So why are so many industries opening up new avenues for nano research, nanotechnology jobs, and development? If someone notes the latest nanotechnology news headlines it isn't too difficult to surmise; many of the advances in nanotech research are proving to benefit industries by helping them save money in production and manufacturing arenas. Cost saving processes of manufacturing are being continuously developed through nanotechnologies, and both industries and consumers are benefiting from the discoveries. New avenues of nanotech research are also paving inroads in the medical industries as innovative health treatments, diagnostic equipments and methods, and better treatments are being discovered as well. Since recent advances have exhibited a positive effect for industries and consumers, there is a push for more advances in the field of nano research.

Developments in nanotechnology are currently exhibiting a certain potential for aiding humanity and changing the world in which we live too. Nano research is being conducted presently that can be used in energy conversation efforts, as well as in filtering water so that people can have access to fresh, clean water in areas of the world where pure water is a true commodity. Thus, nanotechnology news will, undoubtedly, soon be revealing headlines about world wide use of nanotechnology. Those individuals interested in the future developments in the field of nanotech research need to monitor the headlines closely as new nano news emerges. It will allow those seeking nanotechnology information to remain informed, and current as far as an awareness about the latest developments as well as some of the existing controversy that surrounds the emerging discoveries in this exciting field.

NANOTECHNOLOGY IN MEDICINE

Nanotechnology, over recent years, has seen a surge in research activity, with great potential in a wide range of applications including drug delivery, diagnostics, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The development of tools like the scanning tunneling microscope and the atomic force microscope has enabled researchers to observe structures on the nanoscale, where materials may exhibit different properties due to their size.

Also, the development of new materials like carbon nanotubes and buckyballs, along with the improved understanding of the molecular processes linked to diseases has provided novel approaches in improving current therapeutic and diagnostic tools.

The majority of current commercial applications of nanotechnology to medicine are geared towards drug delivery to enable new modes of action, as well as better targeting and bioavailability of existing medicinal substances.

The aim of this paper is to present the various aspects, the benefits and disadvantages of nanotechnology in the field of medicine, considering drug delivery as a major aspect.

In drug delivery, nanotechnology is just beginning to make an impact. Many of the current "nano" drug delivery systems, however, are remnants of conventional drug delivery systems that happen to be in the nanometer range, such as liposome, polymeric micelles, nanoparticles, dendrimers, and nanocrystals.

The importance of nanotechnology in drug delivery is in the concept and ability to manipulate molecules and supramolecular structures for producing devices with programmed functions. The nanoparticles used for drug delivery present a mechanism to overcome the challenges posed by other drug delivery systems.

Some of the challenges of most drug delivery systems include poor bioavailability, in vivo stability, solubility, intestinal absorption, sustained and targeted delivery to site of action, therapeutic effectiveness, side effects, and plasma fluctuations of drugs which either fall below the minimum effective concentrations or exceed the safe therapeutic concentrations. However, nanotechnology in drug delivery is an approach designed to overcome these challenges due to the development and fabrication of nanostructures at submicron scale and nanoscale which are mainly polymeric and have multiple advantages. Generally, nanostructures have the ability to protect drugs encapsulated within them from hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation in the gastrointestinal tract; target the delivery of a wide range of drugs to various areas of the body for sustained release and thus are able to deliver drugs, proteins and genes through the peroral route of administration.They increase oral bioavailability of drugs due to their specialized uptake mechanisms such as absorptive endocytosis and are able to remain in the blood circulation for a longer time, releasing the incorporated drug in a sustained and continuous manner leading to less plasma fluctuations thereby minimizing side-effects caused by drugs.

Nanotechnology and it’s Benefits

Nanotechnology is a protective coating that enhances products of any sort of material. It can strengthen and improve the assets to benefit both manufacturers and end users. With the help of Nanotechnology, which is an applied science, new products are created to protect various materials.

Protective coating is a result of nanotechnology. It makes the materials weather resistant and the surface becomes easy to clean as well. Its protective coating exhibits very high resistance to corrosion attack, long term stability in aggressive conditions and an environmentally friendly, easy and economical preparation procedure.

Nanotechnology and its characteristics will be different in the case of each material surface and it is available with standard features and techniques. Nanotechnology uses more techniques and tools for its updating. Nanotechnology research has been made continuously to update technology using different techniques and tools available in the world. New technologies have been used to measure the molecular interactions that take place.

Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize the life of materials used in every sector be it industrial, residential, medicines, genetics, communication, textile and many more. It helps to improve products and production processes with better techniques and new functionality.

In coming years, products based on nanotechnology are expected to impact nearly all-industrial sectors and enter the consumer markets in large quantities. Considering the future prospects of nanotechnology, countries across the world are investing heavily in this sector. Diamon Fusion International is one such example that makes the optimum use of nanotechnology by providing glass protection,hydrophobic coating, protective coating to various materials depending on there characters.

Nanotechnology Applications for Electronics

Nanotechnology and electronics

Nanotechnology is already being used by the electronic industry and you will be surprised to know that many of today’s electronics have already incorporated many applications that the nanotechnology science has developed. For example, new computer microprocessors have less than 100 nanometers (nm) features. Smaller sizes mean a significant increase in speed and more processing capability.


These advances will undoubtedly help achieve better computers. However, at some point in time (very near in the future) current electronic technology will no longer be enough to handle the demand for new chips microprocessors. Right now, the method for chip manufacturing is known as lithography or etching. By this technology, a probe literally writes over a surface the chip circuit. This way of building circuits in electronic chips has a limitation of around 22 nanometers (most advanced chip processors uses 60-70 nm size features). Below 22 nm errors will occur and short circuits and silicon limitations will prevent chip manufacturing.


What's on the future?
Nanotechnology may offer new ways of working for electronics. Nanotechnology science is developing new circuit materials, new processors, new means of storing information and new manners of transferring information. Nanotechnology can offer greater versatility because of faster data transfer, more “on the go” processing capabilities and larger data memories.


A new field is emerging in electronics that will be a giant leap in computer and electronics science. It is the field of quantum computing and quantum technology. Quantum computing is area of scientific knowledge aimed at developing computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory. In quantum computing the “qbit” instead of the traditional bit of information is used. Traditionally, a bit can assume two values: 1 and 0. All the computers up-to-date are based on the “bit” principle. However, the new “qbit” is able to process anything between 0 and 1. This implies that new types of calculations and high processing speeds can be achieved.


Quantum computers have been more of a research area until now. But recently, the first quantum computer has been built in the United States, according to a recent paper published on the prestigious scientific journal Nature Physics. This new computer is said to achieve unseen processing speeds to the tune of a billion times per second, making this the fastest chip on earth.

Nanotechnology Applications for Healthcare: Treatment of Diseases

There are well-established treatments for known diseases. However, when a new illness appears we should not be surprised to see an old-fashioned treatment meet little success. Nanotechnology can help to address the issue of treatments of both old and new diseases.


For starters nanotechnology can provide personalized medicine; that is, unique, individualized medications for each patient. Second, nanotechnology can help treat new diseases by designing new drugs, or by new ways of delivering known drugs. Also, it helps by reducing the risk of rejection or adverse reactions in implants.

Personalized Medicine
Drugs to treat diseases are a risky proposition. Individuals may react different to the same drug dose or even to the drug. Traditionally medicine has taken the “average” respond approach to treat diseases. However, an effective dose for one patient or a certain drug can be toxic for another individual.

As we know more about the human genome, we realize that there may be genes that predispose a patient to a certain disease or to a certain drug. Nanotechnology is helping in this area of illness treatment by designing and applying tools that can rapidly analyze and detect certain genes and gene sequences. In this way if a patient has a gene that predisposes him or her to a bad reaction then a new drug can be chosen for him. This is personalized medicine, medicine targeted to each patient.

New Methods of Drug Delivery
One of the issues with traditional medicine is the uncertainty of knowing whether the administered drug will reach the intended organ or area of the body. Nanotechnology helps to solve this issue because specific carriers can be designed for specific drugs so the drug goes right to the target organ and not to another one. For example in cancer therapies a specific nanoparticle formulation has been designed for the drug paclitaxel. The new formulation (nanoparticle plus drug) is less toxic than the free drug injected to the patient.

New Drugs
Certain drugs are difficult to make because of structural constraints. Nanotechnology can help design these drugs by using a controlled manufacturing system at the atomic and molecular level. In addition, the drug can be designed such as to eliminate the toxic part of it and leave the “effective” one. Currently, new asthma, HIV, And Cancer killing drugs are being designed using nanotechnology systems.

Implants
One of the issues with implants is the interaction of the new implant with biological tissues and cells of the patient. Sometimes adverse reactions occur, and although there are methods to minimize this, many implants fail because of body rejection of the new implant. Nanotechnology can offer some solutions in this area of health care. For example in bone implants were rejections can occur, titanium bone implants are being covered with a special nanocoat of nanostructured titanium dioxide which helps integrate the implant into the bone.

Application of Nanotechnology in Medicine

Nanotechnology is the branch of science which deals with the study of matter at the atomic and molecular level. Nanotechnology has diversity of applications for example it is used in the device physics as well as medicine. Medicine is one field which has made use of nanotechnology in its various applications. Though some of the techniques of nanotechnology in medicine are only just in the minds of the scientists, some techniques are under the development process and some are in the market successfully being used.

Some researchers refer nanotechnology as nanomedicine because nanoparticles are under development for medical purposes and some researchers use the term nanomedicine to make such nanorobots which can repair the damaged cells in the human body. But it is a fact that nanomedicine is playing an important role in detecting the diseases in the human body and is developing cures for them.

Nanotechnology and Drug Delivery:-
One of the most important applications of nanotechnology in medicine is the drug delivery. This application is still under development. It will help the doctors to inject the drug in the patient's body in the form of nanoparticles. The nanoparticles would also be used to heat or light the diseased cells such as cancer cells. The benefit of these particles is that they can target only those cells which are damaged and this way these cells can be treated without creating damage to the healthy human cells. Nanoparticles also make the earlier detection of the disease and doctors can find cure against the disease efficiently and rapidly.

Chemotherapy is the technique used to kill cancerous cells from the body. Now nanoparticles will deliver the drug of chemotherapy. Such drugs are under development and will be in the market soon. People who hate injections, there is a good news for them that now the drug will be encapsulated in the nanoparticles. This way the drug will easily pass from stomach into the bloodstream because of its smaller size. The techniques are being developed which will make drugs using nanoparticles and those drugs would be taken orally.

Nanotechnology and Diagnostic and Imaging Techniques:-
There is one more positive point about nanotechnology is that the quantum dots are now being used to detect tumors of cancers in the human body and are helpful in diagnosis tests. Though this technique is still in the experimental stages but it will be an efficient approach to treat cancer. Other nanoparticles like iron oxide are being used to do MRI of the cancer patients. The mechanism of treatment is that iron oxide is bound with a peptide. When they are released in the body, they bind to the cancer cells. Iron oxide contains the magnetic property and when it binds to the tumor, it shows images from the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scan.

There are other applications of nanoparticles also that they can bind to the proteins or other molecules and help in the detection if the disease. But this method is still at the experimental level and will definitely provide efficient means of treating the diseases.

Nanotechnology and therapy techniques:-
Therapy techniques are also applying nanotechnology to improve their mechanisms. Buckyballs are the nano-substances which help to reduce the inflammation produced during an allergic reaction and have the ability to trap the free radicals which are produced during any allergic reactions. Similarly nanoshells are the substances which help destroy the cancerous cells from the body when the cells are heated by infrared light. They also avoid the damage to the surrounding healthy cells. One other use of nanoparticles is that they can be used to produce electrons which destroy the cancerous cells from the body and there are very less chances that the healthy cells will be affected. Nanoparticles can be applied in place of radiation therapy avoiding destruction of healthy cells.

The use of aluminosilicate nanoparticles in the trauma patients is very helpful because they have the ability to reduce bleeding by absorbing water. It results in the quick clot of blood because when the water will be absorbed from the blood, the blood will become dry.

Nanotechnology and Antimicrobial technique:-
Nanotechnology is also helpful in killing the microbes. Nanocrystalline silver is a nanoparticle which kills the microbes from the wound. Some nanoparticles are used to treat infections as they kill bacteria because of the presence of nitric oxide gas in them. When the cream is applied on the infection, nanoparticles release nitric oxide gas which kills the bacteria.

Nanostructured solar cells

Conversion into electrical power of even a small fraction of the solar radiation
incident on the Earth’s surface has the potential to satisfy the world’s energy demands without generating CO2 emissions. Current photovoltaic technology is
not yet fulfilling this promise, largely due to the high cost of the electricity produced. Although the challenges of storage and distribution should not be
underestimated, a major bottleneck lies in the photovoltaic devices themselves.
Improving efficiency is part of the solution, but diminishing returns in that area
mean that reducing the manufacturing cost is absolutely vital, whilst still retaining good efficiencies and device lifetimes.

Solution-processible materials, e.g. organic molecules, conjugated polymers
and semiconductor nanoparticles, offer new routes to the low-cost production of
solar cells. The challenge here is that absorbing light in an organic material
produces a coulombically bound exciton that requires dissociation at a
donor–acceptor heterojunction. A thickness of at least 100 nm is required to
absorb the incident light, but excitons only diffuse a few nanometres before
decaying. The problem is therefore intrinsically at the nano-scale: we need
composite devices with a large area of internal donor–acceptor interface, but
where each carrier has a pathway to the respective electrode. Dye-sensitized and
bulk heterojunction cells have nanostructures which approach this challenge in
different ways, and leading research in this area is described in many of the
articles in this special issue.

This issue is not restricted to organic or dye-sensitized photovoltaics, since
nanotechnology can also play an important role in devices based on more conventional inorganic materials. In these materials, the electronic properties can be controlled, tuned and in some cases completely changed by nanoscale confinement. Also, the techniques of nanoscience are the natural ones for investigating the localized states, particularly at surfaces and interfaces, which are often the limiting factor in device performance.

This issue provides concrete examples of how the techniques of nanoscience and nanotechnology can be used to understand, control and optimize the performance of novel photovoltaic devices.

Nanostructure Fabrication Processes

Progress in understanding and optimizing materials processing in wet chemical environments requires the use of in situ measurements of the structure and dynamics of the metal-electrolyte interface under realistic conditions. These measurements can provide insight into the mechanisms of relevant atomic, molecular, and mesoscale film growth and dissolution processes.

This project has several thrust areas ranging from measurements and modeling of surfactant mediated growth to the investigation of both surface and thin film growth stress. Particular attention has been given to the role of electrolyte additives in the formation and performance of advanced nanoscale and mesoscale interconnects as used in state of the art microelectronic devices. Measurements are also underway that detail the use of underpotential deposition (upd) reactions to precisely control the composition and structure of 2-D and 3-D alloys. This is complemented by measurements of stress changes that accompany alloy formation as well as the inverse dealloying process. An integral part of the program is the development of mechanistic linkage between atomic and molecular phenomena and rational design of the desired nanostructures.

Additional Technical Details:
This year we demonstrated the first example of void-free trench filling with ferromagnetic materials. Feature filling involves a new mechanism of superconformal growth that uses a single inhibitor whose consumption during deposition gives rise to positive feedback. Coupling of the non-linear dynamics with the non-planar substrate geometry gives rise to void-free nickel deposition in the recessed surface features as shown in the cross section TEM images given below. Two types of molecules have been shown to yield this effect; cationic Nbearing polymers and more recently certain benzimidazole derivatives. The latter provide feature filling dynamics that offer seamless integration with conventional Damascene processing and thereby the prospect of introducing ferromagnetic materials into 3-D metallization for ULSICMOS and MEMS applications.

Measurements developed for upd processes of alloy deposition have received significant attention in the past year. Practical interest in the production of Pt-transition metal alloys for use as either hard magnetic materials for memory applications and /or as potential fuel cell electrocatalyst has motivated much of this work. The Pt-Cu system has been examined as a model upd-codeposition system due to the absence of parasitic reactions. As shown below, co-deposition of Cu with Pt occurs at potentials well positive of that required to deposit pure Cu. The figure also demonstrates the use of in situ quartz crystal gravimetry for the determination of alloy composition along with a direct comparison to post deposition ex-situ methods.

The upd process has also been applied to Pt-Ni and Pt-Co alloys and preliminary studies indicate that these alloy films are more catalytic than pure Pt for the oxygen reduction reaction; the latter being a central impediment to improved fuel cell performance.

In order to gain a deeper insight into upd and molecular adsorption processes relevant to a wide range of electrochemical processing issues, a variety of in situ scanning tunneling microscope (STM), atomic force microscope (AFM), stress and gravimetric measurements are underway.

MSEL has recently constructed an optical bench for in situ measurement of surface stress during electrochemical processing using the wafer curvature method. Forces on the order of 0.008 N/m (23 km radius of curvature) can be resolved, sufficient to study the adsorption of upd and molecular monolayers. This powerful method is capable of monitoring the surface stress associated with reversible upd reactions such as Pb onto the (111)-textured Au surface as shown below.

The stress transient shows four regimes of behavior from ClO4- desorption, Pb-Au bond formation, stress relaxation due to hcp-Pb island coalescence, and electrocompression of the monolayer at potentials just positive of bulk Pb deposition. Interestingly, these measurements show that the complete Pb monolayer behaves as a free-standing elastic film where the stress - strain proportionality has a value equal to the biaxial modulus for Pb (111) in the bulk. Similar work has examined the upd of Bi on Au. Further work is underway exploring these timely and exciting issues.

Nanostructure

A nanostructure is an object of intermediate size between molecular and microscopic (micrometer-sized) structures.

In describing nanostructures it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensions on the nanoscale. Nanotextured surfaces have one dimension on the nanoscale, i.e., only the thickness of the surface of an object is between 0.1 and 100 nm. Nanotubes have two dimensions on the nanoscale, i.e., the diameter of the tube is between 0.1 and 100 nm; its length could be much greater. Finally, spherical nanoparticles have three dimensions on the nanoscale, i.e., the particle is between 0.1 and 100 nm in each spatial dimension. The terms nanoparticles and ultrafine particles (UFP) often are used synonymously although UFP can reach into the micrometre range. The term 'nanostructure' is often used when referring to magnetic technology.

List of nanostructures

• Nanocages
• Nanocomposite
• Nanofabrics
• Nanofiber
• Nanoflake
• Nanoflower
• Nanofoam
• Nanomesh
• Nanoparticle
• Nanopillar
• Nanopin film
• Nanoring
• Nanorod
• Nanoshell
• Quantum dot
• Quantum heterostructure
• Sculptured thin film

Nanotechnology and its Future Applications

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology, the term coined by Eric Drexler in the1980s, refers to the engineering of tiny devices and machines. This is a technology involving the potential ability to fabricate structures and devices with atomic precision by controlling the size of the matter at the scale of 1-10nm. It will provide the solution to a large number of problems faced by mankind today. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter (10-9), roughly the width of three or four atoms.

The Potential of Nanotechnology

The potential of nanotechnology is huge and can lead to tremendous miniaturization in wider areas like space systems, medial diagnostic equipments and drug delivery systems. It will enable us to fabricate very sensitive devices and machines, leading to the enhancement of human capabilities to work efficiently, at lowers cost, with more precision and in environmentally friendly ways. Nanotechnology will make it feasible for us to create such sophisticated devices and structures with more flexibility at nanoscale.

Areas in which nanotechnology has future applications and discoveries, which can lead to enormous economical and industrial development, is as follows:

• Macromolecular design and folding
• Self-assembly methods
• Catalysis (inorganic, enzyme and other)
• Dendrimers, fullerenes and other novel chemical structures
• Bioenergetics, nanobatteries and ultrasound-driven chemistry
• Semiconductor-organic/biological interfaces
• Miniaturization and massive parallelism of SFM
• Molecular modeling tool

Applications:

• Energy Storage, Production and Conversion:
  a) Novel hydrogen storage systems based on carbon nanotubes and other
  lightweight nanomaterials
  b) Photovoltaic cells and organic light-emitting devices based on quantum dots
  c) Carbon nanotubes in composite 0.lm coatings for solar cells
  d) Nanocatalysts for hydrogen generation
  e) Hybrid protein-polymer biomimetic membranes
• Agricultural Productivity Enrichment:
  a) Nanoporous zeolites for slow release and efficient dosage of water and
  fertilizers for plants and of nutrients and drugs for livestock
  b) Nanocapsules for herbicide delivery
  c) Nanosensors for soil quality and for plant health monitoring
  d) Nanomagnets for removal of soil contaminants
• Water Treatment and Remediation:
  a) Nanomembranes for water purification, desalination and detoxification
  b) Nanosensors for the detection of contaminants and pathogens
  c) Nanoporous zeolites, nanoporous polymers and attapulgite clays for water purification
  d) Magnetic nanoparticles for water treatment and remediation
  e) TiO 2 nanoparticles for the catalytic degradation of water pollutants
• Disease Diagnosis and Screening:
  a) Nanoliter systems (Lab-on-a-chip)
  b) Nanosensor arrays based on carbon nanotubes
  c) Quantum dots for disease diagnosis
  d) Magnetic nanoparticles as nanosensors
  e) Antibody-dendrimer conjugates for diagnosis of HIV-1 and cancer
  f) Nanowire and nanobelt nanosensors for disease diagnosis
  g) Nanoparticles as medical image enhancers
• Drug Delivery Systems:
  a)Nanocapsules, liposomes, dendrimers, buckyballs, nanobiomagnets
  and attapulgite clays for slow and sustained drug release systems
• Food Processing and Storage:
  a) Nanocomposites for plastic .lm coatings used in food packaging
  b) Antimicrobial nanoemulsions for applications used in decontamination of food equipment or packaging
  c) Nanotechnology-based antigen detecting biosensors for identification of pathogen contamination
• Air Pollution and Remediation:
  a) TiO 2 nanoparticle-based photocatalytic degradation of air pollutants in
  self-cleaning systems
  b) Nanocatalysts for more efficient, cheaper and better-controlled
  catalytic converters
  c) Nanosensors for detection of toxic materials and leaks
  d) Gas separation nanodevices
• Construction - nanomolecular structures to make asphalt and concrete more robust to counter water seepage:
  a) Heat-resistant nanomaterials to block ultraviolet and infrared radiation
  b) Nanomaterials for cheaper and durable housing, surfaces, coatings, glues, concrete and heat and light exclusion
  c) Self-cleaning surfaces (e.g. windows, mirrors, toilets) with bioactive coatings
• Health monitoring Nanotubes and nanoparticles for glucose, CO(2), and cholesterol sensors and for in-site monitoring of homeostasis:
• Vector and pest detection and control:
  a) Nanosensors for pest detection.
  b) Nanoparticles for new pesticides, insecticides and insect repellents

Nanotechnology and Cancer

Majority of animal cells are approximately 10,000 to 20,000 nanometers in width. Consequently, it would be simpler for nano tools to go into and intermingle with the cell's proteins and DNA.

Nanotechnology can be utilized to combat cancer in 2 manners. Firstly, it will be utilized in spotting the existence of cancer much sooner and with superior accuracy as compared to the regular diagnostic techniques, like X-RAYS, MRIs, and biopsies. Secondly, it will be utilized in the obliteration of the cancer, with bigger exactitude and diligence, once it is diagnosed.

Nanotechnology Cancer Treatment

Nanotechnology's supreme guarantee in medical history is its probability to obliterate cancers that up till now have been defiant to conservative cures.

Contemporary radiation and chemotherapy can be best defined as 'carpet bombing' cancer. That implies that fit cells are assaulted together with the cancer cells. The consequence is that the cancer patient undergoes severe spin-offs, together with sickness, hair fall, anemia, and the dilapidation of his/her immunology. The deficiency of accuracy inbuilt in contemporary cancer combating methods at times, implies that not the entire of a cancer is eliminated, leading to a revival of the cancer.

Nanotechnology cancer therapy on the other hand, gives the probability of a cancer combating smart method. Nano tools can be developed that can accurately transport medicines to only the cancer cells, leaving fit cells undamaged. These tools would go into the formerly distinguished cancerous cells and carry the drug or amalgamation of drugs, annihilating the cancer from its roots.

One more prospective system blends nanotechnology with an innovative type of radiation therapy. Carbon nano tubes are set up into cancerous cells. After that an infrared laser is emphasized on the impacted region. The laser warms the nano tubes, leading to the damage of the cancerous cells, leaving fit cells unharmed.

An additional method anticipated for curing cancer would entail nano computers factually redrafting the DNA of cancerous cells to transform them back into standard cells. The concept would be that these tools would inspect the DNA of cancerous cells on the minuscule level, contrasting them to what the DNA of usual cells for the cancer patient ought to be, and then calling in nano fixing devices to repair the DNA.

Summary

This implies that within the life span of majority people, cancer- the big slayer of our time, may no more be laden with the terror we see it with now. The next generation might well see cancer as we see few epidemics from history, such as chicken pox, which are a fraction of history and no more as an element of our daily life.

Nanotechnology and it's Benefits

Nanotechnology is a protective coating that enhances products of any sort of material. It can strengthen and improve the assets to benefit both manufacturers and end users. With the help of Nanotechnology, which is an applied science, new products are created to protect various materials.

Protective coating is a result of nanotechnology. It makes the materials weather resistant and the surface becomes easy to clean as well. Its protective coating exhibits very high resistance to corrosion attack, long term stability in aggressive conditions and an environmentally friendly, easy and economical preparation procedure.

Nanotechnology and its characteristics will be different in the case of each material surface and it is available with standard features and techniques. Nanotechnology uses more techniques and tools for its updating. Nanotechnology research has been made continuously to update technology using different techniques and tools available in the world. New technologies have been used to measure the molecular interactions that take place.

Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize the life of materials used in every sector be it industrial, residential, medicines, genetics, communication, textile and many more. It helps to improve products and production processes with better techniques and new functionality.

In coming years, products based on nanotechnology are expected to impact nearly all-industrial sectors and enter the consumer markets in large quantities. Considering the future prospects of nanotechnology, countries across the world are investing heavily in this sector. Diamon Fusion International is one such example that makes the optimum use of nanotechnology by providing glass protection,hydrophobic coating, protective coating to various materials depending on there characters.

Nanotechnology - Nanomedicine

Nanotechnology involves the science and technology of devices and materials, such as drug delivery systems or electronic circuits, that are created on extremely tiny scales – as small as molecules and even atoms. Nanotechnology also involves manipulation of structure matter at molecular levels, involving different fields and specialties such as chemistry, engineering, electronics, medicine and others. All of these fields of study and pursuit are concerned with bringing existing technologies down to a very tiny scale that is measured in, 'nanometers,' which is a billionth of a meter, or about the size of six carbon atoms in a row.

The processes used both today and in the past in the creation of industrial products have involved pushing piles of millions of atoms together through mixing, grinding and heating, a process that is very imprecise. Scientists are now able to pick up individual atoms and assemble them into structures, or cause particular chemical reactions. For example, propellers have been attached to molecular motors and electricity has been conducted through, 'nanowires.' 'Nanotubes,' made of carbon are being investigated for use in a variety of both research and industrial purposes. As the future approaches, the use of nanotechnology might find scientists able to harness the forces that operate at the scale of the nanometer, such as the Van Der Waals force. They may be able to harness the changes in the quantum states of particles for engineering purposes.

One of the promising aspects of nanotechnology where improvement of the quality of human life is concerned includes the potential for new treatments for disease. Tiny autonomous robots or, 'nanobots,' might one day be sent into a person's body to cure cancer or repair cells, or possibly even extend the person's life span by a number of years. At this time the simple devices that have been created by nanotechnology are not of the complexity envisioned with nanomachines and nanobots.

Nanotechnology Background

Nanotechnology has emerged from the chemical, physical, biological and engineering sciences. Novel techniques are being developed by scientists in these fields to both probe and manipulate individual atoms and molecules. The tools these scientists have developed have enabled a variety of new discoveries regarding the ways in which properties of matter are governed by the atomic and molecular arrangements at nanometer dimensions. The discoveries that have been made have had an impact on the processing of a wide-range of devices and materials. The results have been substantial improvements in existing technologies, as well as entirely new ones. Control of the design properties, materials, as well as devices at the nanoscale is possible through exploitation of strategies which are often complemented by top-down engineering approaches.

Nanotechnology-based approaches are poised to revolutionize research biology and medicine. In another example, with the significant progress in understanding the genetic basis of biochemical pathways that are involved in both injury and disease processes, there is a great need for highly-sensitive, real-time monitoring and detection technologies. Nanotechnology may be used to design diagnostic systems that are multi-functional and multi-analytic; ones that not only define early stage changes or progression of disease states, but also identify unique biological molecules, structures and chemicals. There are nanotechnologies related to imaging for metastasis, inflammation, and angiogenesis that are emerging. Nanotechnology and nanoscience are presenting new opportunities for the treatment and management of traumatic injuries and diseases. Multifunctional materials on nanoscales that capitalize on progress in proteomics and genomics are allowing targeted delivery of molecular therapies with enhanced efficacy.

Studies that use nanotechnology concepts and techniques and focus on biological processes have the potential to provide new insight into the physical relationships between cellular components and functional irregularities that trigger pathological abnormalities. Nanoscience and the technologies emerging from it offer a means of controlling the design and assembly of biomolecular processes that are very relevant to health and disease. In another example, while the processes involved in energy conversion offer a means of constructing a biomolecular machine through enzymology and structural biology have been studied for a number of years, nanotechnology and nanoscience present a means of creating a biomolecular machine that uses biological energy sources in new ways.

NanoTechnology, Nanomedicine, and the Future

Nanotechnologies, applied to the medical field, could allow doctors to search out and destroy the very first cancer cells that would otherwise have caused a tumor to develop. Nanotechnologies could remove a broken portion of a cell and replace it with a miniature biological machine, or deliver medicines exactly where and when they are needed. Nanomedicine is an offshoot of nanotechnology, and refers to highly-specific medical intervention at the molecular scale for curing diseases or repairing damaged tissues. The pursuit of nanomedicine on the part of researchers at the National Institute of Health (NIH) began several years ago, with results expected within ten years of their launch date in 2005.

Research into nanotechnology started with discoveries of unique chemical and physical properties of various carbon-based or metallic materials which only appear for structures at nanometer-sized dimensions. The ability to understand the scale of these properties allows engineers to build new structures and use the materials in new ways. The same thing is true for biological structures inside living cells within the human body. Researchers have been able to develop powerful tools to categorize the parts of cells in great detail; they are aware of a great amount of detail concerning how intracellular structures operate.

Still, scientists have not been able to answer certain questions. The questions that remain involve things such as, 'How many, ' 'how big,' and, 'how fast?' They must find the answers to these kinds of questions in order to fully understand cellular structures and gain the ability to repair them, or build new nanotechnology structures that can safely operate inside the human body. Once scientists have achieved this, they will be able to work with others to build better diagnostic tools and engineer nanoscale structures for specific treatments of diseases or tissues that have been damaged.

The NIH established a national network of eight Nanomedicine Development Centers to serve as the intellectual and technological centerpiece of the NIH Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative. The centers are staffed by research teams that include physicians, biologists, engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists. The initial phase of the program found the centers pursuing research aimed at gathering extensive information about the chemical and physical properties of nanoscale biological structures. Because of the catalogue the NIH has been able to create, they are gaining a greater understanding of nature's rules of biological design that will enable their researchers to correct defects in unhealthy cells. The research requires the development of new devices for a broad range of biomedical applications, such as detecting infectious agents or metabolic imbalances, with new and tiny sensors, replacing items inside of cells with new nanoscale structures, or generating miniature devices that have the capability to search for and destroy infectious agents.

The NIH is approaching phase two of the program, which has been approved. During phase two of the Nanomedicine initiative, the fundamental knowledge and developed tools they have acquired will be applied to both understanding and treatment of disease. The centers will continue their pursuit of knowledge, expanding it in regards to the science of nanostructures in living cells. They will gain the capability to engineer biological nanostructures, apply their knowledge, tools, and devices – and focus on targeting specific diseases.

Nanotechnology Fundamental Techniques

Introduction to nanotechnology manipulates the atomic properties of nanotechnology materials. Nanotechnology is the broad classification of applied science and technologies evolving around. Nanotechnology comprises of physics, material science, and applied science different disciplines. The characteristic of nanotechnology will be different and it comes up with standard features and techniques. It is designed and produced specifically to meet wide applications. It is used to control, manipulate the molecular level of the scale and it ranges with regards to the fabrication devices.

Nanotechnology in medicine has been made with regards to nanotechnology research and nanotechnology reports. Generally, Nanotechnologies have been classified under multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary field of science and technology and more nanotechnology materials have been updated constantly. It is confined has mechanical and electrical engineering. The popular nanotechnology among the customer is molecular nanotechnology which is used to operate molecular scale. The main purpose of introduction to nanotechnology is that it produces desire structure or device using principles.

Nanotechnology uses more techniques and tools for its updating. Nanotechnology includes techniques for fabrication such as deep ultraviolet lithography, electron beam lithography, atomic layer deposition, and molecular vapor deposition. With regards to nanotechnology research and nanotechnology reports, it is come to know that it is possible to measure nanostructures and it is functionality. Nanotechnology can be used for wide applications and it has been designed specifically to meet the requirement of the customers around the world. Nanotechnology is an extension of existing sciences which interprets as nano scale or as recasting of existing science using new technology research.

Nanotechnology research has been made continuously to update technology using different techniques and tools available in the world. New technologies have been used to measure the molecular interactions that take place. Two different approaches have been insisted in nanotechnology to control, assist and to manipulate the molecular level of the scales. The fabrication techniques used ranges and the applications of structures differ. The design, devices for nanotechnology used for production to control the manipulation of size and shape of the scale which produces structural and characteristic for the technology updated.

Nanotechnology uses techniques to suit for applications such as field emission, plastics, energy storage, adhesives/connectors, molecular electronics, fibers and fabrics and for other applications. More number of manufacturers is interested in manufacturing tools required for nanotechnology and they provides and update for reasonable price consideration. To use nanotechnology or its updating, more assumption has been created with regards to science and technology which results from nanotechnology research.

NANOSCIENCE AND THEIR BIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE: HUMAN HEALTH AND DISEASE

1. Introduction
Nano-science is well recognized as a revolutionary step in various field of science and a logical field of study for researchers in the coming years as it is, the study of fundamental principles of molecules and structures between one nanometer (one billionth of a meter) and 100nanometers in size. Due to the novel design and size-tunable optical properties of nano-materials .with new physico-chemical characteristics , their potential adverse impact on human health must be addressed.

Nano-materials are structurally and functionally prevalent in the organic, inorganic, and biological fields. Their unique size-dependent properties make these materials superior and indispensable in many areas of human activity. The biological application of nano-particles is a rapidly developing area of nanotechnology that raises new possibilities in the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. Basically, the nano-meter length scale opens the way for the development of novel materials for use in highly advanced medical technology. As researchers are developing an ever-expanding toolkit of nano-particles for use as drug and imaging agent delivery vehicles, there is a growing need to understand how a given nano-particle's physical and chemical properties affect biological activity and toxicity. Now, various new methods have been developed for measuring the biological activity of nano-materials in a highly systematic manner that enables them to draw important insights about nano-material biologic activity.

2. Nanotechnology products

Nanotechnology has created a growing sense of excitement due to the ability to create and utilize materials, devices, and systems through the control of matter on the nanometer scale (1 to 50 nm). Current and near-future developments in medicine are of interest, because it can be projected beyond them to perceive what will be possible once inexpensive nano-scale manufacturing of highly functional products becomes a reality.Manufacturing with nanotechnology can solve many of the world's current problems.After more than twenty years of basic and applied research, nanotechnologies are gaining in commercial use. Nano-scale materials now are in electronic, cosmetics, automotive and medical products. Various investigations are continuing researches are now established in the area of nanomaterials, in which scientists use different cell lines for their assays and measured biological activity at different nano-particle doses. New concepts for regenerative medicine give hope to many patients with organ failure or severe injuries. Nano-particle reinforced polymers , orally applicable insulin , artificial
joints ] made from nano-particulate materials, and low-calorie foods with nano-particulate taste enhancers. Some products are already commercially available, such as surgical blades and suture needles, contrast-enhancing agents for magnetic resonance imaging , bone replacement materials , wound dressings , anti-microbial textiles, chips for in vitro molecular diagnostics, micro-cantilevers, and micro-needles. With the emergence of technologies to fabricate and mass-produce micro-scale tools and micro-machines, micro-surgery stands to potentially benefit through the development of a fundamentally new class of instruments. These new instruments may provide the surgeon with access to the smallest reaches of the body and perform operations that are currently not possible with manually operated tools . Nano-wires are tiny highways for electrons, transporting them quickly and efficiently through the solar cell. This analysis clearly showed that there were definite correlations between the physical and chemical properties of a nano-particle and biological activity.


3. Nanoscience and biotechnology

Nanotechnology will have an almost endless string of applications in biotechnology, biology, and biomedicine. The biotech world also has many real world applications currently in use or under development that are, or will be, affecting our quality of life. However, nanobiotechnology presents a promising research and development frontier with a tremendous future impact in the following areas:

Drug delivery: Novel therapeutic strategies include the development of targeted transport vehicles allowing drug delivery to specific cells or cell structures. Of particular interest are bioengineered nano-particles, which can be utilized as transport vehicles of diagnostic or therapeutic agents . Drugs with narrow therapeutic indexes create a major challenge for pharmaceutical scientists, during their developments. Application of nanotechnology for the delivery of such drugs can significantly overcome this problem . Nucleic acid ligands, also known as aptamers, are a class of macromolecules that are being used in several novel nanobiomedical applications, which collectively make them attractive molecules for targeting diseases or as therapeutics. These properties will enable aptamers to facilitate innovative new nanotechnologies with applications in medicine .

Magnetic nano-particles (MNPs) possess unique magnetic properties and the ability to function at the cellular and molecular level of biological interactions making them an attractive platform as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and as carriers for drug delivery. However, further development is required before nanotechnology can be applied clinically.

Gene therapy: Nanotechnology, using advanced polymers as a delivery mechanism, may revive genetic therapy as a tool for curing diseases. Problems with delivery systems for genes - often based on the use of viral vectors - have already caused researchers to pull gene therapy projects. Non-viral vectors, nano-particles, complexes between lipids, or polymers with DNA have been proposed as alternatives to viruses used to incorporate specific genes into target cells. Recent progress in nanotechnology has triggered the site specific gene delivery research and gained wide acknowledgment in contemporary DNA therapeutics . Recently the major challenge of gene therapy for researcher is to explore whether nano-particles can be delivered intravenously to attack metastatic tumour cells, which are found throughout the body in advanced stages of cancer.

Nano-biosensors/DNA nano-chips: Nano-materials are exquisitely sensitive chemical and biological sensors constructed of nano-scale components (e.g., nano-cantilevers, nano-wires, and nano-channels) can recognize genetic and molecular events and have reporting capabilities, thereby offering the potential to detect rare molecular signals associated with malignancy .

Rapid and sensitive drug screening, one of the limiting factors in combinatorial chemistry for drug discovery and development, is another important application of nano-biosensors. Because of the small dimension, most of the applications of nano-biotechnology in molecular diagnostics fall under the broad category of biochips/micro-arrays but are more correctly termed nano-chips and nano-arrays.The advancement of biotechnology has been facilitated the biotechnologist to have better understanding, characterization, and control of living cells.


4. Human health and disease
Nanotechnology is already starting to have an impact on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease, especially by enabling early disease detection and diagnosis, as well as precise and effective therapy. It approaches in surgery, cancer diagnosis and therapy, bio-detection of molecular disease markers, molecular imaging, implant technology, tissue engineering, and devices for drug, protein, gene and radionuclide delivery. While many of these medical nanotechnology applications are still in their infancy. Nano-particles or nano-structures are utilizing as novel drug delivery systems . Systemic administration of chemotherapeutic agents, in addition to its anti-tumor benefits, results in indiscriminate drug distribution and severe toxicity. This shortcoming may be overcome by targeted drug-carrying platforms that ferry the drug to the tumor site while limiting exposure to non-target tissues and organs .
The rapid and sensitive detection of pathogenic bacteria is extremely important in medical diagnosis and measures against bioterrorism. Recent advances in the field of nanotechnology led several groups to recognize the promise of recruiting nano-materials to the ongoing battle against pathogenic bacteria . Rapid, selective, and sensitive detection of viruses is crucial for implementing an effective response to viral infection, such as through medication or quarantine.
Direct, real-time electrical detection of single virus particles can be achieved with high selectivity by using nano-wire field effect transistors .


5. Nanoscience and medical research
Research in nano-medicine will allow for a better understanding of the functioning of the human body at molecular and nano-metric level and it will thus give us the possibility to intervene better at pre-symptomatic, acute or chronic stage of illnesses. Some other nanotechnology applications which are currently under development in the biotech world are diabetic insulin biocapsules, pharmaceuticals utilizing “bucky ball” technology to selectively deliver drugs, and cancer therapies using targeted radioactive bio-capsules. Molecular manufacturing will have major effects on medical research, diagnosis, and treatment.

Other diseases, including influenza, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and pneumococcal infection are being at least partially controlled by vaccines, but there is still much that needs to be done to eliminate many such diseases, even in the developed world . With very few adjuvants currently being used in marketed human vaccines, a critical need exists for novel immunopotentiators and delivery vehicles capable of eliciting humoral, cellular and mucosal immunity. Nano-particle technology is also an attractive methodology for optimizing vaccine development because design variables can be tested individually or in combination .

6. Nanoscience and medicine
In recent years there has been a rapid increase in nanotechnology applications to medicine in order to prevent and treat diseases in the human body . Nano-medicine (the application of nanotechnology to health) raises high expectations for millions of patients for better, more efficient and affordable healthcare and has the potential of delivering promising solutions to many illnesses. Nano-medicine, an offshoot of nanotechnology, refers to highly specific medical intervention at the molecular scale for curing disease or repairing damaged tissues, such as bone , muscle, nerve chronic pulmonary diseases or coronary artery disease .

Nano-crystalline silver products (Acticoat) is effective against most common strains of wound pathogens; can be used as a protective covering over skin grafts; has a broader antibiotic spectrum activity; and is toxic to keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Animal studies suggest a role for nanocrystalline silver in altering wound inflammatory events and facilitation of the early phase of wound healing . Nano-sized cosmetic or sunscreen ingredients pose no potential risk to human
health, whereas their use in sunscreens has large benefits, such as the protection of human skin against skin cancer . It gives the hope of designing new, more efficient drugs with fewer or no side effects.

The development of novel materials and devices operating at the nano-scale range, such as nano-particles, provides new and powerful tools for imaging, diagnosis and therapy. The design of multifunctional nano-particles is suggested as an alternative system for drug and gene delivery,which has great potential for therapy in areas, such as cancer and neuro-pathologies .

Nano-medicine raises high expectations for millions of patients for better, more efficient and affordable healthcare and has the potential of delivering promising solutions to many illnesses.The aim is to identify a disease at the earliest possible stage. Ideally already a single cell with ill behavior would be detected and cured or eliminated.

7. Nano-science and cancer
The biological application of nano-particles is a rapidly developing area of nanotechnology that raises new promises in the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers. They can also facilitate important advances in detection, diagnosis, and treatment of human cancers and have led to a new discipline of nano-oncology . Nano-particles offer a new method of tumour targeting, already available in clinical practice, which can concomitantly improve the efficacy and decrease the toxicity of existing or novel anticancer agents. This makes them an ideal candidate for precisely targeting cancer cells. Molecular imaging has now considered as a high area in cancer diagnosis . Early assessment of nanotechnologies is also reported by Micro-array Analysis and Photodynamic Therapy implementation, which methodology can be extrapolated to other nanotechnologies in oncology. In the near future, the use of nanotechnology could revolutionize not only oncology, but also the entire discipline of medicine.

The development of resistance to variety of chemotherapeutic agents is one of the major challenges in effective cancer treatment. Nanotechnology could enhance the precision of drugs that have one highly specialized mission, like finding and killing cancer cells or tumors. Additionally, multi-functional nano-carriers are developed to enhance drug delivery and overcome MDR by either simultaneous or sequential delivery of resistance modulators (e.g., with P-glycoprotein substrates), agents that regulate intracellular pH, agents that lower the apoptotic threshold (e.g.,with ceramide), or in combination with energy delivery (e.g., sound, heat, and light) to enhance the effectiveness of anticancer agents in refractory tumors . A recent study showed that targeting of phage nano-medicines via specific antibodies to receptors on cancer cell membranes results in 145 endocytosis, intracellular degradation, and drug release, resulting in growth inhibition of the target cells in vitro with a potentiation factor of >1000 over the corresponding free drugs. These results define targeted drug-carrying filamentous phage nano-particles as a unique type of antibody-drug conjugates .
Optically efficient, cancer specific Quantum dots provide a new tool to enable noninvasive visualization of disease-specific molecular and tissue changes with subcellular spatial resolution . Nanotechnology is in a unique position to transform cancer diagnostics and to produce a new generation of fluorescent markers and medical imaging techniques with higher sensitivity and precision of recognition.

Nanoparticles make biofuel production more efficient

Biofuel production currently involves a complex mixture of hydrophilic and hydrophobic liquids, along with one or more catalysts. Getting them all together and separating out the fuel can be a time-consuming challenge. Researchers have now used carbon nanotubes and oxidized metals to create a solid that is both hydrophilic and hydrophobic and sits between oil and alcohol layers, mediating their interactions.

Making biofuel using current methods can be a bit tedious. Recipes generally involve mixing some kind of bio-oil, often vegetable oil, with an alcohol, usually methanol, along with a catalyst such as lye. Once these have all been combined, they react to form the desired biofuel, glycerine, and some excess soap, water, and alcohol. All of these will, for the most part, separate into layers like with a vinaigrette dressing if allowed to sit for a long enough time.

The glycerine can be drained off easily enough, and most of the impurities will settle between the glycerine and biofuel, but the biofuel must be "washed" a few times to extract any errant soap particles and other impurities that are suspended in it, and boiled to remove the water. All told, the process can take between a couple of days and a week, depending on how much you're making. There are machines that will carry out the mixing and washing, but the process can't be shortened much because of the impurities that are introduced due to the use of lye as a catalyst.

Researchers set out to solve this problem by finding a catalyst that would not introduce any impurities that would be difficult to remove. They also wanted to find one that would that could stabilize an oil and water emulsion, which would help the reaction components form a stable mix, in the same way that egg yolks stabilize mayonnaise. A stabilized emulsion would significantly increase the surface area where the two substances can react—typically, this function is performed by the solid catalysts. Ideally, the newly engineered catalysts would also be reusable.

The researchers' solution involved a combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic materials that would both emulsify the oil/water mixture by sitting at the interface of the two substances, and facilitate their reaction to form biofuels. To accomplish this, they grew hydrophobic carbon nanotubes on small pellets of hydrophilic oxidized metals that contained enough palladium catalyst to speed up the reaction.

They found this combination helped the aqueous and organic phases emulsify, and would remain at the boundary between the two substances; the palladium facilitated the hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis, and decarbonylation reactions. Hydrogenation was the dominant reaction at around 100ºC, hydrogenolysis at 200ºC, and decarbonylation at 250ºC. Each of these reactions is useful for the conversion of different combinations of alcohols and oils, and because of the increased surface area. Thanks to the inclusion of palladium, these reactions happen at a much faster rate than when performed using lye.

Once the reactions had occurred, the authors found that all of the desired products had moved into the organic phase, or what was once just bio-oil, leaving any waste and water in the aqueous phase, where it was still bound by the catalytic nanoparticles.

To separate the catalyst and waste, they strained the liquid through a regular paper filter, which managed to catch most of the catalyst. They then passed the organic liquid through a polytetrafluoroethylene filter to catch the nanoparticles that had gotten through the paper filter, leaving them with purified biofuel.

These solid nanohybrid particles seem to be a strong candidate for fuel production, given the greater amount of precision and control they provide fuel makers and the speedier reaction times they enable. But they do still require a filtration process, an aspect of the experiment that was not extensively studied. Since reducing production time and increasing purity would be beneficial to the future of biofuel, streamlining the waste-removal step in this process will be critical. The paper also made no mention of whether their chosen nanoparticles were reusable after their initial reaction. Still, the basic principles seem solid, provided that these aspects of the catalysts can be optimized.

Nanoparticle

A nanoparticle is a microscopic particle with at least one dimension less than 100 nm.

Nanoparticle research is currently an area of intense scientific research, due to a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical, and electronic fields. Nanoparticles are of great scientific interest as they are effectively a bridge between bulk materials and atomic or molecular structures.

A bulk material should have constant physical properties regardless of its size, but at the nano-scale this is often not the case.

Size-dependent properties are observed such as quantum confinement in semiconductor particles, surface plasmon resonance in some metal particles and superparamagnetism in magnetic materials. The properties of materials change as their size approaches the nanoscale and as the percentage of atoms at the surface of a material becomes significant.

For bulk materials larger than one micrometre the percentage of atoms at the surface is minuscule relative to the total number of atoms of the material.

The interesting and sometimes unexpected properties of nanoparticles are not partly due to the aspects of the surface of the material dominating the properties in lieu of the bulk properties. Nanoparticles exhibit a number of special properties relative to bulk material.

For example, the bending of bulk copper (wire, ribbon, etc.) occurs with movement of copper atoms/clusters at about the 50 nm scale.

Copper nanoparticles smaller than 50 nm are considered super hard materials that do not exhibit the same malleability and ductility as bulk copper.

The change in properties is not always desirable.

Ferroelectric materials smaller than 10 nm can switch their magnetisation direction using room temperature thermal energy, thus making them useless for memory storage.

Suspensions of nanoparticles are possible because the interaction of the particle surface with the solvent is strong enough to overcome differences in density, which usually result in a material either sinking or floating in a liquid.

Nanoparticles often have unexpected visible properties because they are small enough to confine their electrons and produce quantum effects.

For example gold nanoparticles appear deep red to black in solution. Nanoparticles have a very high surface area to volume ratio.

This provides a tremendous driving force for diffusion, especially at elevated temperatures.

Sintering can take place at lower temperatures, over shorter time scales than for larger particles.

This theoretically does not affect the density of the final product, though flow difficulties and the tendency of nanoparticles to agglomerate complicates matters.

Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials is a field which takes a materials science-based approach to nanotechnology. It studies materials with morphological features on the nanoscale, and especially those which have special properties stemming from their nanoscale dimensions. Nanoscale is usually defined as smaller than a one tenth of a micrometer in at least one dimension, though this term is sometimes also used for materials smaller than one micrometer.


An aspect of nanotechnology is the vastly increased ratio of surface area to volume present in many nanoscale materials which makes possible new quantum mechanical effects, for example the “quantum size effect” where the electronic properties of solids are altered with great reductions in particle size. This effect does not come into play by going from macro to micro dimensions. However, it becomes pronounced when the nanometer size range is reached. A certain number of physical properties also alter with the change from macroscopic systems. Novel mechanical properties of nanomaterials is a subject of nanomechanics research. Catalytic activities also reveal new behaviour in the interaction with biomaterials.
Nanotechnology can be thought of as extensions of traditional disciplines towards the explicit consideration of these properties. Additionally, traditional disciplines can be re-interpreted as specific applications of nanotechnology. This dynamic reciprocation of ideas and concepts contributes to the modern understanding of the field. Broadly speaking, nanotechnology is the synthesis and application of ideas from science and engineering towards the understanding and production of novel materials and devices. These products generally make copious use of physical properties associated with small scales.


As mentioned above, materials reduced to the nanoscale can suddenly show very different properties compared to what they exhibit on a macroscale, enabling unique applications. For instance, opaque substances become transparent (copper); inert materials attain catalytic properties (platinum); stable materials turn combustible (aluminum); solids turn into liquids at room temperature (gold); insulators become conductors (silicon). Materials such as gold, which is chemically inert at normal scales, can serve as a potent chemical catalyst at nanoscales. Much of the fascination with nanotechnology stems from these unique quantum and surface phenomena that matter exhibits at the nanoscale.


Uniformity

The chemical processing and synthesis of high performance technological components for the private, industrial and military sectors requires the use of high purity ceramics, polymers, glass-ceramics and material composites. In condensed bodies formed from fine powders, the irregular sizes and shapes of nanoparticlesin a typical powder often lead to non-uniform packing morphologies that result in packing density variations in the powder compact.
Uncontrolled agglomeration of powders due to attractive van der Waals forces can also give rise to in microstructural inhomogeneities. Differential stresses that develop as a result of non-uniform drying shrinkage are directly related to the rate at which the solvent can be removed, and thus highly dependent upon the distribution of porosity. Such stresses have been associated with a plastic-to-brittle transition in consolidated bodies, and can yield to crack propagation in the unfired body if not relieved.


In addition, any fluctuations in packing density in the compact as it is prepared for the kiln are often amplified during the sintering process, yielding inhomogeneous densification. Some pores and other structural defects associated with density variations have been shown to play a detrimental role in the sintering process by growing and thus limiting end-point densities. Differential stresses arising from inhomogeneous densification have also been shown to result in the propagation of internal cracks, thus becoming the strength-controlling flaws.
It would therefore appear desirable to process a material in such a way that it is physically uniform with regard to the distribution of components and porosity, rather than using particle size distributions which will maximize the green density. The containment of a uniformly dispersed assembly of strongly interacting particles in suspension requires total control over particle-particle interactions. It should benoted here that a number of dispersants such as ammonium citrate (aqueous) and imidazoline or oleyl alcohol (nonaqueous) are promising solutions as possible additives for enhanced dispersion and deagglomeration. Monodisperse nanoparticles and colloids provide this potential.


Monodisperse powders of colloidal silica, for example, may therefore be stabilized sufficiently to ensure a high degree of order in the colloidal crystal or polycrystalline colloidal solid which results from aggregation. The degree of order appears to be limited by the time and space allowed for longer-range correlations to be established. Such defective polycrystalline colloidal structures would appear to be the basic elements of submicrometer colloidal materials science, and, therefore, provide the first step in developing a more rigorous understanding of the mechanisms involved in microstructural evolution in high performance materials and components.

What are Nanorobots

Nanorobots are theoretical microscopic devices measured on the scale of nanometers (1nm equals one millionth of 1 millimeter). When fully realized from the hypothetical stage, they would work at the atomic, molecular and cellular level to perform tasks in both the medical and industrial fields that have heretofore been the stuff of science fiction.

A few generations from now someone diagnosed with cancer might be offered a new alternative to chemotherapy, the traditional treatment of radiation that kills not just cancer cells but healthy human cells as well, causing hair loss, fatigue, nausea, depression, and a host of other symptoms. A doctor practicing nanomedicine would offer the patient an injection of a special type of nanorobot that would seek out cancer cells and destroy them, dispelling the disease at the source, leaving healthy cells untouched. The extent of the hardship to the patient would essentially be a prick to the arm. A person undergoing a nanorobotic treatment could expect to have no awareness of the molecular devices working inside them, other than rapid betterment of their health.

Nanomedicine's nanorobots are so tiny that they can easily traverse the human body. Scientists report the exterior of a nanorobot will likely be constructed of carbon atoms in a diamondoid structure because of its inert properties and strength. Super-smooth surfaces will lessen the likelihood of triggering the body's immune system, allowing the nanorobots to go about their business unimpeded. Glucose or natural body sugars and oxygen might be a source for propulsion, and the nanorobot will have other biochemical or molecular parts depending on its task.

According to current theories, nanorobots will possess at least rudimentary two-way communication; will respond to acoustic signals; and will be able to receive power or even re-programming instructions from an external source via sound waves. A network of special stationary nanorobots might be strategically positioned throughout the body, logging each active nanorobot as it passes, then reporting those results, allowing an interface to keep track of all of the devices in the body. A doctor could not only monitor a patient's progress but change the instructions of the nanorobots in vivo to progress to another stage of healing. When the task is completed, the nanorobots would be flushed from the body.

Molecular nanotechnology (MNT), the umbrella science of nanomedicine, envisions nanorobots manufactured in nanofactories no larger than the average desktop printer. The nanofactories would use nano-scale tools capable of constructing nanorobots to exacting specifications. Design, shape, size and type of atoms, molecules, and computerized components included would be task-specific. Raw material for making the nanorobots would be nearly cost-free, and the process virtually pollution-free, making nanorobots an extremely affordable and highly attractive technology.

The first generation of nanorobots will likely fulfill very simple tasks, becoming more sophisticated as the science progresses. They will be controlled not only through limited design functionality but also through programming and the aforementioned acoustic signaling, which can be used, notably, to turn the nanorobots off.

Robert A. Freitas Jr., author of Nanomedicine, gives us an example of one type of medical nanorobot he has designed that would act as a red blood cell. It consists of carbon atoms in a diamond pattern to create what is basically a tiny, spherical pressurized tank, with "molecular sorting rotors" covering just over one-third of the surface. To make a rough analogy, these molecules would act like the paddles on a riverboat grabbing oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules, which they would then pass into the inner structure of the nanorobot.

The entire nanorobot which Freitas dubbed a respirocyte, consists of 18-billion atoms and can hold up to 9-billion O2 and CO2 molecules, or just over 235 times the capacity of a human red blood cell. This increased capacity is made possible because of the diamond structure supports greater pressures than a human cell. Sensors on the nanorobot would trigger the molecular rotors to either release gasses, or collect them, depending on the needs of the surrounding tissues. A healthy dose of these nanorobots injected into a patient in solution, Freitas explains, would allow someone to comfortably sit underwater near the drain of the backyard pool for nearly four hours, or run at full speed for 15 minutes before taking a breath.

While potential medical and even military applications seem obvious for this one simple type of nanorobot, implications for every-day life are also intriguing. Imagine scuba diving without tank or regulator, but a swarm of respirocytes in your bloodstream; or the 2030 Olympics when, perhaps, super-athletes will not be scanned for drugs, but for nanorobotic augmentation.

Although nanorobots applied to medicine hold a wealth of promise from eradicating disease to reversing the aging process (wrinkles, loss of bone mass and age-related conditions are all treatable at the cellular level), nanorobots are also candidates for industrial applications. In great swarms they might clean the air of carbon dioxide, repair the hole in the ozone, scrub the water of pollutants, and restore our ecosystems.

Early theories in The Engines Of Creation (1986), by "the father of nanotechnology," Eric Drexler, envisioned nanorobots as self-replicating. This idea is now obsolete but at the time the author offered a worst-case scenario as a cautionary note. Runaway microscopic nanobugs exponentially disassembling matter at the cellular level in order to make more copies of themselves - a situation that could rapidly wipe out all life on Earth by changing it into "gray goo." This unlikely but theoretically feasible ecophage triggered a backlash and blockade to funding. The idea of self-replicating nanobugs rapidly became rooted in many popular science fiction themes including Star Trek's nanoalien, the Borg.

Over the years MNT theory continued to evolve eliminating self-replicating nanorobots. This is reflected in Drexler's later work, Nanosystems (1992). The need for more control over the process and position of nanomachines has led to a more mechanical approach, leaving little chance for runaway biological processes to occur.


Nanorobots are poised to bring the next revolution in technology and medicine, replacing the cumbersome and toxic Industrial Age and opening humankind up to incredible possibilities. But while gray goo is no longer a central concern, more potential dangers and abuses of nanotechnology remain under serious consideration by scientists and watchdog groups alike.