CHAPTER 9

The Nano World

What is nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology refers broadly to a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme
is the control of matter on the molecular level in scales smaller than 1 micrometre, normally 1 to 100
nanometers, and the fabrication of devices within that size range.
Nanotechnology is being used in developing countries to help treat disease and prevent health
issues. The umbrella term for this kind of nanotechnology is Nano-medicine. Nanotechnology is also
being applied to or developed for application to a variety of industrial and purification processes.
Nanotechnology is about looking at the world on such a tiny scale that we can not only see the
atoms that make up everything around us (including ourselves), but we can manipulate and move those
atoms around to create new things. Think of nanotechnology, then, as being a bit like construction … only
on a tiny scale.
And what is mean by tiny. The nanoscale is 1,000 times smaller than the microscopic level and a
billion times smaller than the typical world of meters that we’re used to measuring things in. (Nano literally
means one-billionth.) If you took a human hair, for instance, it would measure approximately 100,000
nanometers wide. That’s the sort of scale we’re dealing with at a nano level.

Nanotechnology may seem like something out of the future, but in fact, many everyday products
are already made using nanotechnology. Take these seven common products, for instance:

1. Sunscreen

Nanoparticles have been added to sunscreens for years to make them more effective. Two
particular types of nanoparticles commonly added to sunscreen are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.
These tiny particles are not only highly effective at blocking UV radiation, they also feel lighter on the skin,
which is why modern sunscreens are nowhere near as thick and gloopy as the sunscreens we were
slathered in as kids.

2. Clothing

When used in textiles, nanoparticles of silica can help to create fabrics that repel water and other
liquids. Silica can be added to fabrics either by being incorporated into the fabric’s weave or sprayed onto
the surface of the fabric to create a waterproof or stainproof coating. So if you’ve ever noticed how liquid
forms little beads on waterproof clothing – beads that simply roll off the fabric rather than being absorbed
– that’s thanks to nanotechnology.

3. Furniture

In the same way that clothing can be made waterproof and stainproof through nanotechnology,
so too can upholstered furniture. Even better, nanotechnology is also helping to make furniture less
flammable; by coating the foam used in upholstered furniture with carbon nanofibers, manufacturers can
reduce flammability by up to 35 percent.

4. Adhesives

Nanotechnology can also be used to optimize adhesives. Interestingly, most glues lose their
stickiness at high temperatures, but a powerful “nano-glue” not only withstands high temperatures – it
gets stronger as the surrounding temperature increases.
5. Coatings for car paintwork

We all know bird droppings can wreak havoc on car paintwork. To combat this, a company called
Nanorepel has produced a high-performance nanocoating that can be used to protect your car’s
paintwork from bird poop. The company also makes coatings to protect car upholstery from stains and
spillages.

6. Tennis balls

Nanotechnology has found a range of applications in the world of sports equipment, with a couple
of great examples coming from one of my favorite sports: tennis. Nanotechnology helps tennis balls keep
their bounce for longer, and make tennis racquets stronger.

7. Computers

Without nanotechnology, we wouldn't have many of the electronics we use in everyday life. Intel
is undoubtedly a leader in tiny computer processors, and the latest generation of Intel’s Core processor
technology is a 10-nanometer chip. When you think a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, that’s
incredibly impressive!

I. NANOSCALE AND NANOMATERIALS

A nanoscale is a technological tool that was developed by advancement in science and

technology.

Nanotechnology refers to the science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale,
which is about 1 to 100 nanometers. It involves operating at a very small dimension and allows scientists
to make use of the exceptional optical, chemical, physical, mechanical, and biological qualities of
materials of that small scale. A nanometer is a length equivalent to one billionth of a meter, or 10 -9 of a
meter.

Viewing Nanomaterials

Materials which can’t be seen by a naked eye can be viewed using special types of microscope.
Some of the known microscopes used by scientists to view nanomaterials are:

1. Electron Microscope
The first of this kind was built by German Engineers Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll
during the 1930s.
 It utilizes a particle beam of electrons to light up a specimen and develop a magnified image as
large as a million times its original size. They produce higher and better resolution than its predecessor,
the conventional light microscope. The two general types are:

a. SEM – Scanning Electron Microscope

b. TEM – Transmission Electron Microscope
2. Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
First developed by Gerd Binig, Calvin Quate, and Christoph Gerber in 1986, this
microscope uses a mechanical probe to gather information from the surface of the
material.
3. Scanning Tunneling Microscope
It was developed by Gerd Binig and Heinrich Rohrer in 1986. They won the Nobel
Prize in Physics for this invention because this microscope enabled scientists to view
and manipulate nanoscale particles, small molecules, and even atoms.

Nanomanufacturing

It is a scaled-up, reliable, and cost-effective manufacturing of nanoscale materials, structures,

devices, and systems. It leads to the development of new products and improved materials.
 The two fundamental approaches to nanomanufacturing are:

1. Bottom-up Fabrication
This is a method which is time-consuming because it manufactures products from atomic-
and molecular-scale components.
2. Top-down Fabrication
This process needs larger amounts of materials and discards excess raw materials because
it trims down large pieces of materials into nanoscale.

There are, however new approaches to the assembly of nanomaterials based from the
application of principles in top-down and bottom-up fabrications. These include the following:

1. Dip Pen Lithography

This method uses the tip of an Atomic Force Microscope which is dipped into a chemical fluid
and then utilized to write on a surface.
2. Self-assembly
This is an approach wherein components join together to form an organized structure in the
absence of an outside direction.
3. Chemical Vapor Deposition
It is a procedure wherein chemicals act in response to form very pure, high-performance
films.
4. Nanoimprint Lithography
It is a method of generating nanoscale attributes by stamping or printing them into a surface.
5. Molecular Beam Epitaxy
It is a method of depositing extremely controlled thin films.
6. Roll-to-roll Processing
It is a high-volume practice for constructing nanoscale devices on a roll of ultrathin plastic or
metal.
7. Atomic Layer Epitaxy
It is a method of laying down one-atom-thick layers on a surface.

With the use of these techniques, nanomaterials are manufactured to be more durable, stronger,
lighter, water-repellent, ultraviolet- or infrared-resistant, scratch-resistant, electrically conductive,
antireflective, antifog, antimicrobial, self-cleaning, among others. They lead to the manufacture of the
present variety of products such as tennis rackets and baseball bats to catalysts for purifying crude oil
and ultrasensitive recognition and classification of biological and chemical toxins.
 The future is very much promising with the possibility of the development of computers that are
better, more efficient, with larger storage capacity, faster, and energy-savers. Nanotechnology, too has
the potential of manufacturing highly-efficient, low-cost batteries and solar cells.

Unique Features of Nanoscale

The following are distinct features of nanoscale

1. Scale at which much biology occurs.

A lot of cell activities take place at the nanoscale. A DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is only about 2
nanometers (0.000000002 meter) in diameter. Furthermore, the hemoglobin is only about 5.5 nanometers
(0.0000000055 meter).

A lot of modern-day researches focus on advancing procedures, therapies, tools, and treatments
that are more accurate and custom-made than traditional methods and cause no side-effects on the body.

One example is the bio-barcode assay, which is an inexpensive approach in identifying specific
disease markers in the blood despite their small number in a certain specimen.

2. Scale at which quantum effects dominate properties of materials.

Nanomaterials have properties that are significantly discrete from particles of bigger dimensions. The
properties of materials are highly dependent on their size. Among the essential properties of nanoscale
that change as a function of size include chemical reactivity, fluorescence, magnetic permeability, melting
point, and electrical conductivity.

A good example is the nanoscale gold, whose electrons display restricted motion. Practically,
nanoscale gold particles selectively build up in tumors, and thus it permit both precise imaging and
targeted laser destruction of the tumor while avoiding damage on healthy cells.

3. Nanoscale materials have far larger surface areas than similar masses of larger-scale
materials.
If the surface area per mass of a particular material is increased, a greater amount of the material
comes in contact with another material and can affect its reactivity.

If one cubic centimeter is filled with micrometer-sized cubes – a trillion (1012) of them, each with a
surface area of 6 square micrometers – the total surface area amounts to 6 square meters. When that
single cubic centimeter of volume is filled with 1-nanometer-sized cubes – 1012 of them, each with an area
of 6 square nanometers – their total surface area will be 6,000 square meters.

II. NANOTECHNOLOGY GOVERNMENT FUNDING IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES

1. National Nanotechnology Initiative of the United States (NNI)

The best-known and most-funded program which was established in 2001 and with 2008 and
2009 budgets of $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively.
2. European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory Council (ENIAC)
Established by the European Commission in February 2008.
3. Japan (Nanotechnology Research Institute, under the National Institute for Advanced
Industrial Science and Technology, AIST)
4. Taiwan (Taiwan National Science and Technology Program for Nanoscience and
Nanotechnology)
5. India (Nanotechnology Research and Education Foundation)
 6. China (National Center for Nanoscience and Technology)
7. Israel (Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative)
8. Australia (Australian Office of Nanotechnology)
9. Canada (National Institute for Nanotechnology or NINT)
10. South Korea (Korea National Nanotechnology Initiative)
11. Thailand (National Nanotechnology Center or NANOTEC)
12. Malaysia (National [Malaysia] Nanotechnology Initiative or NNI)

III. APPLICATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINES

1. ICT and semiconductors

ICT or Information Communication Technology is another/extensional term for information

technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications while semi – conductors any of a class
of solids (such as germanium or silicon) whose electrical conductivity is between that of a conductor and
that of an insulator in being nearly as great as that of a metal at high temperatures and nearly absent at
low temperatures. Nanotechnology is throwing the doors open to a hyper-tech era in which electronics
and information and communication technology (ICT) are going to become ubiquitous. Nanoelectronics
are paving the way to miniaturized supercomputers and bringing about the development of pervasive
computing all the way down to the so-called ‘smart dust’. It is already generating ultrafast semiconductors
and microprocessors, not to mention low voltage and high brightness displays. Nanotechnology can now
realistically look forward to a much longed-for quantum computing breakthrough.

2. Health and medicine

Nanomedicine, the application of nanotechnology to human healthcare, offers numerous potential

pathways to improving medical diagnosis and therapy and even to regenerate tissues and organs. It can
provide personalized yet more affordable healthcare while at the same time offering an improved quality
of life for everyone. Nanomedicine is also a strategic issue for the competitive position of the healthcare
industry in Europe.

3. Energy

Nanotechnology’s great sustainability promise is to bring about the much needed power shift in
renewable energy: a new generation of highly efficient photovoltaics, nanocomposites for stronger and
lighter wind energy rotor blades, to name but two; but also a new class of nanomembranes for carbon
capture at fossil fuel power plants.

4. Food and agriculture

5. Environment

Nanotechnological products, processes and applications are expected to contribute significantly to

environmental and climate protection by saving raw materials, energy and water as well as by reducing
greenhouse gases and hazardous wastes. Using nanomaterials therefore promises certain environmental
benefits and sustainability effects. Nanotechnology make battery recycling economically attractive,
radioactive waste clean-up in water and nanotechnology-based solutions for oil spills are some
applications of nanotechnology in the environment.

IV. NANOTECH ROADMAP FOR THE PHILIPPINES – FUNDED BY PCASTRD-DOST

1. ICT and semiconductors

2. Health and biomedical
3. Energy
4. Environment
5. Agriculture and food
6. Health and environmental risk
7. Nano-metrology
8. Education and public awareness
V. BENEFITS AND CONCERNS OF USING NANOTECHNOLOGY

With the increased presence of nanomaterials in commercial products, a growing public

debate is emerging on whether the environmental and social costs of nanotechnology outweigh its many
benefits. To date, few studies have investigated the toxicological and environmental effects of direct and
indirect exposure to nanomaterials and no clear guidelines exist to quantify these effects.

EXAMPLE OF AREAS
AFFECTED BY POSSIBLE BENEFITS CONCERNS
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Environment  Improved detection and  High reactivity and toxicity
removal of contaminants  Pervasive distribution in the
 Development of benign environment
industrial processes and  No nano-specific EPA
materials regulation

Health  Improved medicine  Ability to cross cell

membranes and translocate
in the body
 No FDA approval needed for
cosmetics or supplements

Economy  Better products  Redistribution of wealth

 New jobs  Potential cost of cleanups
and healthcare
 Accessibility to all income
levels

While nanotechnology is seen as the way of the future and is a technology that a lot of people
think will bring a lot of benefit for all who will be using it, nothing is ever perfect and there will always be
pros and cons to everything.

SOCIAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN CONDUCTING RESEARCH ON NANOTECHNOLOGY

1. Who will benefit from it? On the other hand, who won’t?
2. For whom and what are your objectives for developing your product?
3. How will it affect social, economic, and political relationships?
4. What problem is your product trying to solve?
5. Who will have access to it? Who will be excluded?
6. Are there dangers involved with its development (e.g., safety, health, pollution)? How can you
minimize them?
7. Who will own it? How can you assure access to it?