Nano Technology

Nanotechnology is an exciting area of scientific development which promises ‘more for less’. It offers ways to create smaller, cheaper, lighter and faster devices that can do more and cleverer things, use less raw materials and consume less energy. There are many examples of the application of nanotechnology from the simple to the complex. For example, there are nano coatings which can repel dirt and reduce the need for harmful cleaning agents, or prevent the spread of hospital-borne infections. New-generation hip implants can be made more ‘body friendly’ because they have a nanoscale topography that encourages acceptance by the cells in their vicinity. Moving on to more complex products, a good example of the application of nanotechnology is a mobile phone, which has changed dramatically in a few years – becoming smaller and smaller, while paradoxically, growing cleverer and faster – and cheaper!

Nanotechnology originates from the Greek word meaning “dwarf”. A nanometre is one billionth (10 ^-9) of a metre, which is tiny, only the length of ten hydrogen atoms, or about one hundred thousandth of the width of a hair! Although scientists have manipulated matter at the nanoscale for centuries, calling it physics or chemistry, it was not until a new generation of microscopes were invented in the nineteen eighties in IBM, Switzerland that the world of atoms and molecules could be visualized and managed.

In simple terms, nanotechnology can be defined as ‘engineering at a very small scale’, and this term can be applied to many areas of research and development – from medicine to manufacturing to computing, and even to textiles and cosmetics. It can be difficult to imagine exactly how this greater understanding of the world of atoms and molecules has and will affect the everyday objects we see around us