These are just some of the many applications of nanotechnology, a discipline with all the ingredients to turn into the next industrial revolution. Nanotechnology modifies the molecular structure of materials to create smart objects. Nanotechnology and its microscopic universe offer gigantic possibilities for contemporary science and industry.
This technological branch manipulates the molecular structure of materials to change their intrinsic properties and obtain others with revolutionary applications. This is the case of graphene — modified carbon harder than steel, lighter than aluminium and almost transparent — or nanoparticles used in areas such as electronics, energy, biomedicine or defence. In the American Nobel prize and physicist Richard Feynman was the first to speak about the applications of nanotechnology at the California Institute of Technology Caltech.
With the 21st century, this area consolidated, was marketed and came into its own. It includes other areas such as micro-manufacturing, organic chemistry and molecular biology. In the United States alone, for example, more than 18 billion dollars were invested between and through the NNI National Nanotechnology Initiative to turn this sector into a driver of economic growth and competitiveness. Nanotechnology, up close.
The different types of nanotechnology are classified according to how they proceed top-down or bottom-up and the medium in which they work dry or wet :. Mechanisms and structures are miniaturised at the nanometric scale — from one to nanometres in size —.
It is the most frequent to date, especially in electronics. You start with a nanometric structure — a molecule, for example — and through a mounting or self-assembly process you create a larger mechanism than the one you started with. It is used to manufacture structures in coal, silicon, inorganic materials, metals and semiconductors that do not work with humidity. It is based on biological systems present in an aqueous environment — including genetic material, membranes, enzymes and other cellular components —.
Nanotechnology and nanomaterials can be applied in all kinds of industrial sectors. They are usually found in these areas:. Learn about the beginning of the science of studying the extremely small and its fundamental concepts.
Special high-powered microscopes have been developed to allow scientists to see and manipulate nanoscale materials. Learn about those microscopes here. For more detailed information, see Frequently Asked Questions. National Nanotechnology Initiative.
Quantum dots: the color of fluorescence is determined by the size of particles and the type of materials What Is Nanotechnology? The ability to manipulate structures and properties at the nanoscale in medicine is like having a sub-microscopic lab bench on which you can handle cell components, viruses or pieces of DNA, using a range of tiny tools, robots and tubes.
Therapies that involve the manipulation of individual genes, or the molecular pathways that influence their expression, are increasingly being investigated as an option for treating diseases. One highly sought goal in this field is the ability to tailor treatments according to the genetic make-up of individual patients. Nanotechnology is bringing that scientific dream closer to reality. DNA-based nanobots are also being created to target cancer cells.
The barrel-shaped nanobot can carry molecules containing instructions that make cells behave in a particular way. In their study, the team successfully demonstrates how it delivered molecules that trigger cell suicide in leukemia and lymphoma cells. Nanobots made from other materials are also in development. In a recent paper in the journal ACS Nano , they describe how drug-loaded nanostars behave like tiny hitchhikers, that after being attracted to an over-expressed protein on the surface of human cervical and ovarian cancer cells, deposit their payload right into the nuclei of those cells.
The researchers found giving their nanobot the shape of a star helped to overcome one of the challenges of using nanoparticles to deliver drugs: how to release the drugs precisely. They say the shape helps to concentrate the light pulses used to release the drugs precisely at the points of the star.
Scientists are discovering that protein-based drugs are very useful because they can be programmed to deliver specific signals to cells. But the problem with conventional delivery of such drugs is that the body breaks most of them down before they reach their destination. But what if it were possible to produce such drugs in situ , right at the target site? So far they have tested the idea in mice, by creating nanoparticles programmed to produce either green fluorescent protein GFP or luciferase exposed to UV light.
The MIT team came up with the idea while trying to find a way to attack metastatic tumors, those that grow from cancer cells that have migrated from the original site to other parts of the body. They are now working on nanoparticles that can synthesize potential cancer drugs, and also on other ways to switch them on. Nanofibers are fibers with diameters of less than 1, nm.
Medical applications include special materials for wound dressings and surgical textiles, materials used in implants, tissue engineering and artificial organ components. Nanofibers made of carbon also hold promise for medical imaging and precise scientific measurement tools. But there are huge challenges to overcome, one of the main ones being how to make them consistently of the correct size.
Historically, this has been costly and time-consuming. But last year, researchers from North Carolina State University, revealed how they had developed a new method for making carbon nanofibers of specific sizes. Nickel nanoparticles are particularly interesting because at high temperatures they help grow carbon nanofibers.
The researchers also found there was another benefit in using these nanoparticles, they could define where the nanofibers grew and by correct placement of the nanoparticles they could grow the nanofibers in a desired specific pattern: an important feature for useful nanoscale materials. Lead is another substance that is finding use as a nanofiber, so much so that neurosurgeon-to-be Matthew MacEwan, who is studying at Washington University School of Medicine in St.
Louis, started his own nanomedicine company aimed at revolutionizing the surgical mesh that is used in operating theatres worldwide. The lead product is a synthetic polymer comprising individual strands of nanofibers, and was developed to repair brain and spinal cord injuries, but MacEwan thinks it could also be used to mend hernias , fistulas and other injuries. Currently, the surgical meshes used to repair the protective membrane that covers the brain and spinal cord are made of thick and stiff material, which is difficult to work with.
Every thread of the nanofiber mesh is thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a single cell. The idea is to use the nanofiber material not only to make operations easier for surgeons to carry out, but also so there are fewer post-op complications for patients, because it breaks down naturally over time.
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