NANOTECHNOLOGY

Introduction

Human beings have a habit of building big. Just a casual look through history will show you that
whenever humans have developed, we've preferred to go big. The pyramids of Giza and Mexico are
prime examples. Then you've got the Easter Island statues and Stonehenge, just to name a few. But is
bigger always better?

In the last century, scientists have shown us that going small can also have its benefits. Look at
the evolution of computers, for instance. The first computer developed by IBM, the Harvard Mark 1, was
over 50 feet long and weighed over 5 tons. Today, phones that fit in the palm of our hand have greater
computing power than the first computer ever made. The reduction in the size of transistors has allowed
us to build smaller and smaller computers and smart devices.

If we look back just three decades ago, you'll probably remember that we used to have big, bulky
telephones that we couldn't take anywhere. The internet was a new concept, and life was very different.
Three decades later, we've got smartphones, 24/7 connectivity, and a completely changed lifestyle, all
thanks to how successfully we've managed to miniaturize technology.

We're now at the cusp of yet another revolution that will completely change the way we live in
the next two to three decades. This change is going to be a mixture of various ongoing revolutions such
as the fintech revolution, AI development, and nanotechnology.

What is Nanotechnology?

The term "nano" was first introduced by Norio Tanaguchi in 1972 to describe the science of
assembling atoms into new forms, but back then, it wasn't that widely known or understood.
Nanotechnology is the science of engineering material fabrication and micro-scale patterning at the
molecular and atomic levels. This involves the manipulation of matter at a scale smaller than 100
nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, which is 10 times the diameter of a hydrogen
atom. To put this in perspective, the diameter of a human hair is on average 80,000 nanometers. The tip
of a pen is around a million nanometers wide. A single sheet of paper is around 75,000 nanometers
thick. Making new things at such a small scale is called nanotechnology. At such scales, the ordinary
rules of physics and chemistry no longer apply.

In the simplest of terms, nanotechnology allows us to explore uncharted territory. The

possibilities are endless because we're just beginning to understand what we can accomplish with this
technology.

But why does it matter? Why look at really small things? Well, they ultimately teach us about the
universe that we live in, and we can do really interesting things with them. When we move into the
nanoscale, we can work with new domains and physics that don't really apply at any other scale.

Nanoscience and nanotechnology can be used to reshape the world around us, literally.
Everything on Earth is made up of atoms: the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the buildings and houses
we live in, our own bodies. So, the question is, if everything's made of atoms, why do we then have
different forms, shapes, objects, and colors? Well, it turns out that the way in which atoms are arranged
determines how anything appears and functions.

Now, think for a moment about how a car works. It's not only about having all the right parts;
they also need to be in the right place in order for the car to work properly. This seems obvious, right?
Well, in pretty much the same way, how the different atoms in something are arranged determines what
pretty much anything around you does.

With nanotechnology, it's possible to manipulate and take advantage of this, much like arranging
Lego blocks to create a model building or airplane or spaceship. The same LEGO block can be used to
make a car or a building.

Let's look at another example to make this even more interesting. The human body has
numerous elements in it. Our blood has iron, which is very important for strength. We have zinc in our
bodies, which is needed for the immune system. We even have traces of gold, silver, and copper in our
blood. All of these minerals and elements are needed for the body to function properly. But the question
is, where did this iron come from? Iron's not naturally found on Earth. Every last bit of iron present on
Earth once came from the core of a star, and stars only make iron when they're about to die out.
Similarly, there's no way to make gold naturally. Gold in the entire universe is only created when two
neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole collide and merge. This explosion is called a kilonova,
and it's the only place in the universe where gold and heavier elements can be created. The gold in our
bloodstream was once a part of some kilonova billions of years ago. So, the same atom that was once
inside a dying star is now inside our bodies, giving us life and strength. This whole explanation shows us
that atoms can be rearranged to take different forms and fulfill different functions. The ability to
manipulate atoms in this manner is what we call nanotechnology.

The term nanotechnology gained traction around the late '80s with the publication of Eric
Drexler's book "The Coming Era of Nanotechnology." In this book, Eric Drexler discussed
nanotechnology at length and proposed a nano-scale assembler, a type of device that can use available
raw material to build a replica of anything.

To understand this concept, think of a 3D printer that can print anything if you have the right raw
materials. The idea is quite common in games like "Prey," where you can recycle objects, break them
down into atoms, and then fabricate anything you want from the available atoms. The process of
fabrication is not fictional; it's an actual process that's being used to create nanotechnology that is
already a part of our daily lives.

But the properties of things change when they're made smaller, phenomenon based on
quantum effects. The strange and sometimes counterintuitive behavior of atoms and subatomic
particles occur naturally when matter is manipulated and organized at the nanoscale. These so-called
quantum effects dictate the behavior and properties of particles.

So, we know that the properties of materials are size-dependent when working at the nanoscale.
This means that scientists have the power to adjust and fine-tune material properties, and they've
actually been able to do this for some time now. It's possible to change properties such as melting point,
fluorescence, electrical conductivity, magnetic permeability, and chemical reactivity, to just name a few.
Applications of Nanotechnology

Where can we actually see the results of this kind of work? Everywhere. There are numerous
commercial products already on the market that you and I use daily that wouldn't exist in the same way
without having been manipulated and modified using nanotechnology.

Some examples include clear nanoscale films on glasses and other surfaces to make them water-
resistant, scratch-resistant, or anti-reflective. Cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, and spacecraft can be made
out of increasingly lightweight materials. We're shrinking the size of computer chips, in turn helping to
enlarge memory capacity. We're making our smartphones even smarter with features like nano
generators to charge our phones while we walk. We're enabling the delivery and release of drugs to an
exact location within the body with precise timing, making treatments more effective than ever before.

There's quite a list, and that's only a few of the potential applications.

Electronics

Let's delve into a few of these in more detail. Nanotechnology has been pivotal in
advancing computing and electronics, leading to faster, smaller, smarter, and more portable
systems and products. It is now considered completely normal for a computer to be carried with
one hand, while just 40 years ago, a computer infinitely slower was the size of a room. This has
been made possible through the miniaturization of the world of microprocessors. For example,
transistors, the switches that enable all modern computing, have reduced drastically in the
briefest amount of time from roughly 250 nanometers in size in the year 2000, to just a single
nanometer in 2016. This revolution in transistor size may soon enable the memory for an entire
computer to be stored in a single tiny chip. Increasingly faster systems have also been made
possible using nanoscale magnetic tunnel junctions that can quickly and effectively save data
during a system shutdown. It's expected that using magnetic RAM or random access memory
with these nanoscale junctions, computers will soon be able to boot almost instantly.

Flexible, bendable, foldable, and stretchable electronics have been developed using
semiconductor nanomembranes. They're monocrystalline structures with thicknesses of less
than a few hundred nanometers. In normal terms, they're really small and super bendy. They're
particularly useful for applications in smartphones and wearable technology like smartwatches.

Environmental Conservation

There are also many applications for detecting and cleaning up environmental
contaminants. It is anticipated that nanotechnology could contribute significantly to
environmental and climate protection by saving raw materials, energy, and water, and reducing
greenhouse gases and hazardous waste. From increasing the durability of materials so that they
last longer and reduce waste to the creation of insulation materials that improve the efficiency
of paper towels, allowing them to absorb 20 times their own weight, nanotechnology really has
the potential to do great things for the conservation of our planet and the human race.

The availability of fresh, clean drinking water is an increasingly pressing issue that can be
linked back to population growth, urbanization, pollution, and the vast effects of events
associated with climate change. Nanotechnology holds the power and promise to not only
detect pollutants but to filtrate and purify. The magnetic interactions between ultra-small specks
of dust can remove arsenic. This is incredible, given that it is naturally present at high levels in
the groundwater in a number of countries. Similarly, the development of nanoparticles that can
purify water pollutants, which cost less than the process of pumping it out of the ground for
treatment, also holds great promise. Basically, getting clean water is a huge problem, and
nanotechnology can help solve it.

Medicine

Scientists are on the verge of new frontiers all the time. Nanotechnology is an act of
exploration, and we're very much still in the early stages, but we're closer than you might think
to this actual goal. The idea of subatomic disease-fighting machines has been in science fiction
for decades, so this idea is not really a new one, but we've definitely come a lot closer to making
this idea a reality in the past decade. It sounds like a near-perfect solution to many modern
medical problems, but let's just explore how and where science fiction meets fact and what
challenges may lie ahead.

Biomedicine is an important area for nanotechnology research. Nanotechnology is

already heavily incorporated into medical tools, knowledge, and therapies already widely in use.
Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology in medicine. It's used for disease
prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Since the human body is full of nano-sized structures such
as proteins, DNA, and cells, nanotechnology can offer promising results to improve their function
and stability.

One example is CRISPR, which is a nanotechnology-based gene editing methodology

that allows scientists to cut and paste our genes for more effective treatment. This is the same
technology that's being used in vaccines to fight against the deadly pandemic.

Nanoparticles can also encapsulate or otherwise help to deliver medication directly to

cancer cells and minimize the risk of damage to healthy tissue. This could ultimately change the
way cancer is currently treated and dramatically reduce the toxic effects of chemotherapy.

Several anti-cancer drugs, including Paclitaxel, Doxorubicin, 5-Fluorouracil, and

Dexamethasone, have been successfully formulated using nanomaterials. These drugs have been
used for cancer treatment for over a decade now.

The increased capabilities of imaging and diagnostic tools enabled by nanotechnology

are also paving the way for increased success rates for many different therapies.

Quantum dots are tiny semiconductor particles just a few nanometers in size, sometimes
referred to as artificial atoms due to their ability to behave like naturally occurring atoms or
molecules. Because of those quantum phenomena mentioned earlier, quantum dots have
optical and electric properties that differ from larger particles. As a result, they have many
applications and are widely used in various sectors.
 However, creating quantum dots is an extremely expensive process which generates a
huge amount of waste, and we find ourselves revisiting those environmental concerns.
Amazingly though, scientists have recently developed a low-cost method to make these
quantum dots using some chemicals and green leaf extracts—tea leaves. The procedure is
economical, and the by-products are non-toxic. The results are genuinely amazing, with heaps of
potential. The research proves that the quantum dots created with tea leaves can penetrate the
skin and reduce the growth of cancer cells by about 80 percent. So not a cure, but a huge leap
forward in progress that doesn't come with the environmental payoff.

Other Uses

Nanotechnology is also being used to develop cost-effective ways to generate

sustainable energy. Kyoto University has developed a semiconductor through nanotechnology
that can absorb twice the amount of sunlight to create more energy than conventional solar
panels. Similarly, nanotechnology is being used to create lighter and cheaper materials for wind
turbines. This is one key reason why the cost of creating sustainable energy is continuously
coming down.

Additionally, nanotechnology is being used in fabrics to create next-generation

waterproof clothing. Schoeller Technologies is using a treatment called nanosphere to coat
fabrics with nanoparticles, making them not only waterproof but also dirt and dustproof.

Another great example of nanotechnology being used in our lives is the food industry.
Genetically modified seeds produce more and better-quality crops with increased nutrients.
Genetically modified crops also don't need pesticides, so they end up reducing the cost of food
to start with.

Nanotechnology is also being used in the meat industry to mark meat with fluorescent
nanoparticles that can indicate the presence of certain pathogens and bacteria.

Drawbacks of Nanotechnology

All the benefits sound almost too good to be true. There have to be downsides to the seemingly
endless potential of nanotechnology for the environment. Actually quantifying and confirming the
effects of a product on the environment, both positive and negative, is achieved by examining the entire
life cycle from production of the raw material to disposal at the end of its life cycle.

There is a genuine concern that nanotechnology will further increase energy and environmental
costs given that the production of the nanomaterials themselves takes a large amount of energy, water,
and environmentally problematic chemicals such as solvents. In order to produce things that will help
the environment, we have to use things that will harm the environment.

Another problem would be that, on one hand, genetically modified seeds have the solution to
end global hunger and malnutrition, but on the other hand, there are also adverse health effects of
some genetically modified food crops. Companies that excel in GMO food crops have been sued for
potentially harmful effects on humans.
 CRISPR is another prime example of how unrelated nanotechnology can cause potential harm.
He Jiankui, the Chinese researcher, conducted gene editing tests on human subjects without prior
approval. He used gene editing on two twins with HIV-positive parents in an attempt to create children
immune to the virus. Jiankui's attempt landed him in prison, stripping him of his titles and privileges.

Possibilities of Nanotechnology

It's not just how we face the big diseases that nanomedicine can transform. Researchers are now
exploring ways to grow complex tissues with the goal of one day growing human organs for transplant.
Nanotechnology can also improve the way vaccines are delivered and how successful they are, including
vaccine delivery without the use of needles—still a work in progress, though, an amazing feat once
achieved.

But the emerging era in nanomedicine really is the era of the nanobot. Nanorobots are tiny
packages that can complete tasks in an automated way. They hold the ability to sense, respond, detect
friend or foe within the body, and deliver payloads and cargo all at the nanoscale. Why do we need
them? Well, conventional water-soluble drugs are far from perfect and present difficulties in treatment.
However, diagnostic nanomachines allow doctors to monitor the internal chemistry of the body's organs,
providing direct access to diseased areas. Nanobots can also be equipped with wireless transmitters so
that doctors can change the treatment method to respond specifically to the state of the medical
condition. They also hold the potential to completely replace pacemakers by treating the heart's cell
directly.

Research regarding nanobots and medicine offers several opportunities such as artificial
antibodies, artificial white and red blood cells, and antiviral nanobots. They are super durable and could
theoretically operate for years without any damage. Nanobots, in fact, hold the potential to address
many health problems besides cancer, such as unblocking blood vessels in hard-to-reach areas, taking
biopsies, or measuring the level of certain chemicals in otherwise inaccessible areas of the body. So, we
are much, much closer than you might have thought in the field of medical nanorobotics, which holds
considerable promise for advancing medical progress.

But the phrase 'so close, yet so far' comes to mind because there are many challenges and
roadblocks to face before surgical nanobots will reach clinical trials. Getting the bots to travel safely
where we want them to in the body and actually having them stay there long enough to carry out a
procedure is incredibly difficult. Scientists also have yet to work out how to keep the nanobots from
being destroyed and expelled from the body like any other toxic or foreign bodies. So, while nanobots
hold the key to an infinitely less toxic solution to treating cancer, the challenges in getting the solution to
the stage of becoming a viable treatment are still a bit in the future.