THE EMERGENCE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

The concept of nanotechnology first originated with American physicist Richard P. Feynman during a talk to the American Physical Society in December 1959, entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics,” Feynman provided examples of the benefits to be obtained by producing ultrasmall structures.

Feynman, however, did not create the term nanotechnology. The term was actually coined by a Japanese scientist named Norio Taniguchi in his paper titled “On the Basic Concept of Nanotechnology.” Since then, nanotechnology began being promoted as a key component of future technology.

Major breakthroughs had been achieved in industry, such as the formation of nanoparticle catalysts made of nonreactive metals and used in catalytic converters found in automobiles. These catalysts chemically reduced noxious nitrogen oxides to benign nitrogen and simultaneously oxidized poisonous carbon monoxide to form carbon dioxide.

WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY?
Nanotechnology is the creation and use of materials or devices at extremely small scales. These materials or devices fall in the range of 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). One nm is equal to one-billionth of a meter (.000000001 m). Scientists refer to the dimensional range of 1 to 100 nm as the nanoscale, and materials at this scale are called nanocrystals or nanomaterials.

In order to grasp the size of the nanoscale, consider the followings:
Atom = 0.1 nm (dia)
Molecules (combination of atoms) = 1.0 nm (dia)
Cells (combination of molecules) = 5,000 to 200,000 nm
1.0 nm = 50,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

The nanoscale is unique because nothing solid can be made any smaller. It is also unique because many of the mechanisms of the biological and physical world operate on length scales from 0.1 to 100 nm. At these dimensions materials exhibit different physical properties; thus scientists expect that many novel effects at the nanoscale will be discovered and used for breakthrough technologies.

A number of important breakthroughs have already occurred in nanotechnology. These developments are found in products used throughout the world. Some examples are catalytic converters in automobiles that help remove air pollutants, devices in computers that read from and write to the hard disk, certain sunscreens and cosmetics that transparently block harmful radiation from the Sun, and special coatings for sports clothes and gear that help improve the gear and possibly enhance the athlete’s performance.

Imagine, checking out from the supermarket cashier all-at-once without the need to scan prices one by one – this is made possible with nanotechnology-based, flexible, thin-film computers housed in plastic product wrappings. What about having your toilet bowl or basin crystal clean – no cleaning is required? It is possible to build these surfaces so flat and fine, that no bacteria or algae can ever grow on them (bacteria sizes are larger than the nanoscale).

Nanotechnology is in its infancy, and no one can predict with accuracy what will result from the full flowering of the field over the next several decades. Many scientists believe it can be said with confidence, however, that nanotechnology will have a major impact on medicine and health care; energy production and conservation; environmental cleanup and protection; electronics, computers, and sensors; and world security and defense.