Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on a near-atomic scale to produce new structures, materials and devices. Nanotechnology is usually defined as engineered structures, devices, and systems. Nano-materials are things that have a length scale between 1 and 100 nanometers. The technology is used to improve industry sectors such as information technology, homeland security, medicine, transportation, and many other types of technology that are needed in today’s society.
What are examples of Nanotechnology?
A few examples of nanotechnology being used today are in medicine, energy, food, cosmetics, and electronics. Nanotechnology has an influence on almost all sectors of food and agricultural systems, such as food security, disease treatment delivery methods, new tools for molecular and cellular biology, new materials for pathogen detection, and protection of the environment. This is making it increasingly important to invest in research to improve the tech to make it more reliable for everyday use.
Nanotechnology in Electronics
Nanotechnology has answers for how industries can increase the capabilities of electronics by determining how to reduce weight and power consumption. Improving display screens on electronics devices with nanotechnology involves reducing power consumption while decreasing the weight and thickness of the screens. Nanotechnology is also making it possible to increase the density of memory chips. Researchers are developing memory chips that are getting smaller and smaller while getting more and more powerful. This is known as the semiconductor race where many companies are trying to maximize the abilities of the technology by fitting more and more conductors in the same area of a chip.
Nanotechnology in Medicine
Researchers are developing customized nanoparticles the size of molecules that can deliver drugs directly to diseased cells in your body. When this technology is perfected, the method should reduce the use of treatment that is harmful to the body such as what chemotherapy does to a patient’s healthy cells. Through nanotechnology, medicine will be revolutionized with the way we detect and treat disease to the human body. The nano tech is allowing our treatments and detections to become more precise than ever before. For example, a treatment such as chemotherapy is currently distributed throughout a patient’s entire body. However, with nanotechnology, the goal is to deliver the treatment right to the site of the cancer.
Nanotechnology in Environmental Work
Nanotechnology can improve the performance of catalysts used to transform toxic emissions escaping from cars or industrial plants into harmless gasses. Catalysts made from nanoparticles have a greater surface area for the emissions to interact with than catalysts made from larger particles. The larger surface area allows more chemicals to interact with the catalyst simultaneously, which makes the catalyst more effective. Additionally, nanotechnology can help create better air quality due to researchers creating a method to improve the conversion of carbon dioxide to useful chemicals with nano-structured catalysts. This is done by adjusting the flow of the emissions to concentrate the carbon dioxide close to the surface of the catalyst. The new process allows for greater precision in the reactions.
Nanotechnology has a huge potential to make people’s lives better. More research will need to be done to understand it’s applications and effects on our current processes in many different industries. However, the beginning of using the technology has had great success, the future will tell us where the potential will continue to go.
Tresca Can Help
Here at Tresca, we’re ready to help you with your next invention & engineering project. While we don’t work with nano-technology, we’d love to talk about your next project. If you want to learn more about how our team can help you during the engineering process, please contact us today to discuss how we can work together.