Nanotechnology Made Clear

Nanotechnology Made Clear

Nanotechnology can be a complicated topic. The Understanding Nanotechnology Website is dedicated to providing clear and concise explanations of nanotechnology applications along with information on companies working in each area. Just as I tried to do when co-authoring Nanotechnology For Dummies, on this site I attempt to make the concepts of nanotechnology understandable by anyone. One visitor posted this comment on his blog "It can't get any simpler" which makes me think I'm headed in the right direction.

You can find the information on each nanotech application through the links to the left, or browse through the introduction below. If you like what you see, we'd be delighted if you added a link to our site to your own Web page, or mention us on your blog.

Nanomaterials

The properties of carbon nanotubes have caused researchers and companies to consider using them in several fields. For example, because carbon nanotubes have the highest strength to weight ratio of any known material, researchers at NASA are combining nanotubes with other materials into composites that can be used to build lightweight spacecraft.

Go to our Nanotube Applications page for an survey of the applications being developed for carbon nanotubes.

Nanoparticles are particles that have one dimension that is 100 nanometers or less in size.The properties of many conventional materials change when formed from nanoparticles. This is typically because nanoparticles have a greater surface area per weight than larger particles; they are therefore more reactive to certain other molecules.

Nanoparticles are used in many fields, go to our Nanoparticle Applications page for an introduction to many of those uses.

It wasn’t until 1991 that Sumio Iijima, a researcher at NEC’s Fundamental Research Lab, not only took photos of nanotubes, but also put two and two together to explain what nanotubes are actually… Click here to read the rest of Nanomaterials Galore, Chapter 4 of Nanotechnology For Dummies, from Wiley Publishing.

Nanotech Applications

Nanomedicine refers to future developments in medicine that will be based on the ability to build nanorobots. In the future these nanorobots could actually be programmed to repair specific diseased cells, functioning in a similiar way to antibodies in our natural healing processes. Check out our Nanomedicine page for more information.

Nanotechnology holds some answers for how we can increase the capabilities of electronics devices while we reduce their weight and power consumption. Check out our Nanoelectronics page to see how nanotechnology is being used in electronics.

Nanotechnology can improve the performance of catalysts used to transform vapors escaping from cars or industrial plants into harmless gasses. That's because catalysts made from nanoparticles have a greater surface area to interact with the reacting chemicals 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. Check our Air Pollution and Nanotechnology page for details.

Nanotechnology is being used to reduce the cost of catalysts used in fuel cells to produce hydrogen ions from fuel such as methanol and to improve the efficiency of membranes used in fuel cells to separate hydrogen ions from other gases such as oxygen. Check out our Nanotech in Fuel Cells page for the details.

Companies are currently developing batteries using nanomaterials. One such battery will be a good as new after sitting on the shelf for decades. Another battery can be recharged significantly faster than conventional batteries. Check our our Nanotech in Batteries page for details.

Go to our Nanotech Applications page for more summaries or click on the link for any application in our navigation bar to the left.

Introduction to Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the study and use of structures between 1 nanometer and 100 nanometers in size. To give you an idea of just how small that is, it would take eight hundred 100-nanometer particles placed side by side to equal the width of a human hair.

Scientists have been studying and using particles of this size for centuries, but the effectiveness of their work has been limited because they have not been able to see the structure of nanoparticles until recently. The development in the last few decades of microscopes that are capable of displaying particles as small as atoms has allowed scientists to see what they are working with.

This ability to see their materials makes a huge difference... Click here to read the rest of Introduction to Nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology Articles

Behind the Scenes at a Nano Lab

Mack Carter, Program Manager for the NanoTech User Facility at the University of Washington in Seattle has a passion for getting the word out about the equipment available at his lab. This facility is part of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), whose goal is to support nanotechnology research. Mack was gracious enough to invite me to visit UW’s NanoTech User Facility recently, and I eagerly accepted.

Nanotechnology in Space

Nanotechnology may hold the key to making spaceflight more practical. Advancements in materials to make lightweight solar sails and the cable for the space elevator could significantly cut the cost of reaching orbit and traveling in space, as well as dramatically reducing the amount of rocket fuel used. Also new materials, along with nanosensors and nanorobots could improve the performance of spaceships, spacesuits and equipment used to explore planets and moons, making a big difference on the ‘final frontier.’

Can Nanotech Economically Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions?

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a naturally occurring gas that the plants in your garden use to produce oxygen. We inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. However, when excess carbon dioxide is produced, for example in power plant emissions, it can be a major factor in global warming. Electric power plants fired by fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) produce about a third of the man-made carbon dioxide released into the air in the United States. Several methods exist or are under development to try to reduce the problem. The challenge seems to be developing a method that can be inexpensively and easily retrofitted into existing power plants.

See Nanotechnology Articles for more.