Nanotechnology

By Sanjana Katoch

Nanotechnology is going to be a major driving force behind the impending technological revolution in the 21st century. Both private and public sector spendings are constantly increasing.
The size of the market for nanotechnology products is already comparable to the biotechnology sector, while the expected growth rates over the next few years are far higher. Nanotechnology manufacturing is a fundamentally new process in which structures are built from the bottom up, one atom at a time. Nanotechnology has the potential of producing new materials and products that may revolutionize all areas of life. Nanotechnology protagonists believe that nanotechnology will provide unsurpassed benefits for society. Meanwhile, its antagonists believe that nanotechnology may pose serious health and environmental risks and advocate that the precautionary principle should govern the development and deployment of such products. Although it is difficult to predict precisely how nanotechnology will impact society, current understanding, under either the spectacular benefit or the serious risk scenarios, presages a huge impact on society in areas that include the environment, healthcare, energy, and
electronics.
Today’s nanotechnology, for example, the planned manipulation of materials and properties on a nanoscale, exploits the interaction of three technological streams: • the control of the size and manipulation of nanoscale building blocks,
• the characterization of materials on a nanoscale (for example, spatial resolution, chemical sensitivity), and the understanding of the relationships between nanostructure and properties and how these can be engineered.
Nanotechnology starts at the bottom and builds up one atom at a time. Apart from making very small things, nanotechnology promises “absolutely perfect copies” of a device. Broadly speaking, nanotechnology may be divided into two areas: nanomaterials, and nanodevices.
NANOMATERIAL IN 21 CENTURY
Nanomaterials can be defined as materials possessing, at minimum, one external dimension measuring 1-100nm. The definition given by the European Commission states that the particle size of at least half of the particles in the number size distribution must measure 100nm or below.
Nanomaterials can occur naturally, be created as the byproducts of combustion reactions, or be produced purposefully through engineering to perform a specialized function. These materials can have different physical and chemical properties to their bulk-form counterparts.
USES OF NANOMATERIALS
Due to the ability to generate the materials in a particular way to play a specific role, the use of nanomaterials spans various industries, from healthcare and cosmetics to environmental preservation and air purification.
The healthcare field, for example, utilizes nanomaterials in a variety of ways, with one major use being drug delivery. One example of this process is whereby nanoparticles are being developed to assist the transportation of chemotherapy drugs directly to cancerous growths, as well as to deliver drugs to areas of arteries that are damaged to fight cardiovascular disease. Carbon nanotubes are also being developed to be used in processes such as the addition of antibodies to the nanotubes to create bacteria sensors.
In aerospace, carbon nanotubes can be used in the morphing of aircraft wings. The nanotubes are used in a composite form to bend in response to the application of electric voltage

Elsewhere, environmental preservation processes make use of nanomaterials too – in this case, nanowires. Applications are being developed to use the nanowires – zinc oxide nanowires- in flexible solar cells as well as to play a role in the treatment of polluted water.

IMPORTANCE OF NANOMATERIAL IN 21st CENTURY
an important application for future nanomaterials will be as highly selective and efficient catalysts for chemical and energy
This will be important economically
conversion processes.

not only for energy and chemical products but also for
conservation and environmental applications. nanomaterial is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary technology with enormous potential for human health and industries. As a sustainable economic driver, nanotechnology can promise compelling social benefits. Despite these advantages, the practical applications of this revolutionary technology are still a challenge.
For example, nanoparticles can agglomerate to form larger particles during the EOR process, compromising their function. Extensive and intensive research is needed to overcome the shortcomings associated with the applications of nanotechnology. Nonetheless, the future of nanotechnology is bright. We would like to end this Editorial by quoting Walt Disney’s “If you can dream it, you can do it.” With the aid of nanotechnology, the dream of scientists to engineer new functional materials for a better 21st century is closer to reality.
the preparation of polymer-based nanomaterials. Polymers (latexes) are heterogeneous systems that consist of two phases—namely, a dispersion medium and a disperse phase. The polymer latex comprises a large number of separate small particles that are usually spherical. The formulation of polymeric nanoparticles (polymer dispersions) dispersed in a non-solvent media are prepared by
(macro)emulsion, miniemulsion, or microemulsion

polymerization is broadly used for the production of homopolymers and copolymers by the radical polymerization of unsaturated monomers with similar or different water solubility. The kinetics and mechanism of hydrophilic unsaturated monomers and especially the copolymerization of a set of monomers with a different water-solubility are complex. Because of this kinetics, serious disadvantages, such as the lack of homogeneity and restrictions in the accessible composition range are accompanied.