A Presentation Report on

NANOTECHNOLOGY
(01-feb-2011)

Submitted by: Submitted to:

SANJEEV KUMAR Mrs. SANDHYA SINGH
Section: K4001 Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering
Roll No.: B-72
LPU, Jalandhar
Course Code: 1208E

Reg. No.: 11012052

 Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. History
3. What is Nanotechnology?
4. Concept of Nanotechnology
5. What is Nanometre?
6. Importance of Nanotechnology
7. Nanotechnology Applications
8. Nanotechnology in Automobile Industries
9. Nanotechnology in Medicine- Nanomedicine
10. The Nanotechnology Industries
11. Advantages of Nanotechnology
12. Disadvantage of Nanotechnology
13. Conclusion
14. References
 1. Introduction
Throughout history, human nature has pushed us to search for new knowledge
and information that would lead to the betterment of society. Living in the 21 st
century, thirst for knowledge and information has become part of our culture.
We surf the web, watch television, and read books, all to contribute to our
everyday satisfaction. Advancement in technology has then enhanced our
quality of life. Things we take for granted today – cellular phones, handheld
computers, mp3 players – were not imagined 10 or 20 years ago. These
machines as well as many new technologies today possess some sort of
nanotechnological device in their system. Though a significant number of
breakthroughs in nanotechnology have occurred, scientists believe that they
have only “scratched the surface” of this field’s potential.

Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale.

This covers both current work and concepts that are more advanced.
Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions
between approximately 1 and 100 nanometres, where unique phenomena enable
novel applications. One of the most pressing issues facing nano-scientists and
technologists today is that of communicating with the non-scientific
community. As a result of decades of speculation, a number of myths have
grown up around the field, making it difficult for the general public, or indeed
the business and financial communities, to understand what is a fundamental
shift in the way we look at our interactions with the natural world. This article
attempts to address some of these misconceptions,
and explain why scientists, businesses and
governments are spending large amounts of time and
money on nanoscale research and development.
 2. History:
From time immemorial humans have used this technology in making
paintings, steel and vulcanizing rubber but this concept was only mentioned in
1867 by James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell's Demon was James's experiment
that was able to handle individual molecules. With time came size
measurements of nano particles. This was done mostly by Richard Adolf
Zsigmondy who published a book in 1914. To see particles that have sizes
less that a wavelength of light Richard Zsigmondy used an ultramicroscope
since it employs the dark filed method. The first system classification which
was bases on the size of the particle was developed by Richard Zsigmondy. Of
course the term nanotechnology as we know it today was first defined in the
year 1974 by Norio Taniguchi.

The 20th century saw many significant developments in the field of

nanomaterials and other fields related to it. Monolayer i.e. a layer of material
that is one molecule thick was one such concept that was introduced by
Katherine B. Blodgett and Irving Langmuir in the 1920's. The first measurement
of surface force was conducted by Abrikosova and Derjaguin in the early
1950's. These and various other discoveries serve as the basis of
nanotechnology as we know it today.

3. What is Nanotechnology?
Take a random selection of scientists, engineers, investors and the general
public and ask them what nanotechnology is and you will receive a range of
replies as broad as nanotechnology itself. For many scientists, it is nothing
startlingly new; after all we have been working at the nanoscale for decades,
through electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopies or simply growing
and analysing thin films. For most other groups, however, nanotechnology
means something far more ambitious, miniature submarines in the
bloodstream, little cogs and gears made out of atoms, space elevators made of
nanotubes, and the colonization of space. It is no wonder people often muddle
up nanotechnology with science fiction. In its original sense, 'nanotechnology'
refers to the projected ability to construct items from the bottom up, using
techniques and tools being developed today to make complete, high
performance products.

4. Concept of Nanotechnology:
“Nanotechnology, the creation and use of materials or devices at extremely
small scales.” Molecular nanotechnology is an engineering discipline in which
the goal is to build devices and structures that have every atom in the proper
place.

By means of this general purpose material-processing technology it will be

possible to build almost any rigid, covalently bonded structure. Identical parts
will be truly identical, enabling energy conversion and computation systems to
have extremely high performance and reliability. Assembly will be done by
mechanosynthesis, the process of holding two reactive molecules in contact
with each other in a controlled orientation. Synthesis will be done on
nanoscale assembly lines called molecular mills, where systems of moving
belts will press individual molecules together and catalyze 10(6) reactions/s
per station. High-performance mechanical computers will use moving rods to
block the motion of other rods. The most important physical limit will be
radiation damage. Without redundancy, a subsystem lasting 100 years will be
limited to 10(6) nm3.

One nanometer (nm) is one billionth, or 10 −9, of a meter. By comparison,

typical carbon-carbon bond lengths, or the spacing between these atoms in a
molecule, are in the range 0.12–0.15 nm, and a DNA double-helix has a
diameter around 2 nm. On the other hand, the smallestcellular life-forms, the
bacteria of the genus Mycoplasma, are around 200 nm in length.

The part of nonmaterial:

1. Nanoscale

2. Nanometer

3. Nanoparticles

4. Nanotubes

5. Thin films

6. Nanocomposites

7. Nanostructured bulk materials

 5. What is the Nanometre?
A nanometre is a unit of spatial measurement that is 10 -9 meter, or one
billionth of a meter. It is commonly used in nanotechnology, the building of
extremely small machines.

It is one of the more

often used units for
very small lengths, and
equals ten Angstrom,
an internationally
recognised non-SI
unit of length. It is
often associated with the field of nanotechnology and the wavelength of light.
Formerly, millimicron (symbol mµ) was used for the nanometre. The
symbol µµ has also been used.

6. Importance of Nanotechnology
The new materials that are being created because of nanotechnology will greatly
effect our environment, economy as well as our society one day. The powerful
tool will help manufactures and researchers to work hand in hand to fabricate
materials molecule by molecule. This can be done by collecting inaccessible
properties of matter and then creating new structures that are more remarkable.
Nanotechnology is bringing in vast benefits in medical technology by applying
the principles to health care issues. With nanotechnology many applications
have come forward in the medical filed. Nanotechnology for healthcare on the
whole can be developed and devised with the help of which medical issues
could be monitored, cured and prevented. Of course like all other sciences
concerns and risks need to be monitored. Such is the growth of this field that
various prominent nanotechnology companies are conducting more and
experiments in this field.

Molecular nanotechnology as well as biomedical nanotechnology which are

mentioned in the nanotechnology journal are fast becoming the most researched
fields the world over. MNT or molecular nanotechnology  is anticipated to
allow a technique that would make precise and positional assembly of
molecule-sized building blocks possible. In the field of biomedical
nanotechnology too considerable research is being conducted in the field of
nanomadicine.

7. Nanotechnology applications:-
With nanotechnology, a large set of materials and improved products rely on a
change in the physical properties when the feature sizes are shrunk.
Nanoparticles, for example, take advantage of their dramatically increased
surface area to volume ratio. Their optical properties, e.g. fluorescence, become
a function of the particle diameter. When brought into a bulk material,
nanoparticles can strongly influence the mechanical properties of the material,
like stiffness or elasticity. For example, traditional polymers can be reinforced
by nanoparticles resulting in novel materials which can be used as lightweight
replacements for metals. Therefore, an increasing societal benefit of such
nanoparticles can be expected. Such nano-technologically enhanced materials
will enable a weight reduction accompanied by an increase in stability and
improved functionality. Practical nanotechnology is essentially the increasing
ability to manipulate (with precision) matter on previously impossible scales,
presenting possibilities which many could never have imagined - it therefore
seems unsurprising that few areas of human technology are exempt from the
benefits which nanotechnology could potentially bring.

8. Nanotechnology in the Automobile Industries:

Nanoparticle technology is being used in the automotive industry to protect
engines and enable them to perform better. Ford Motor company announced
recently that it is using a device called the
Local Electrode Atom Probe to conduct
research into making metals and plastics
lighter and stronger. The device works at
the atomic scale and is useful for removing
atoms from metallic surfaces as well as
locating the position of the atoms on those
surfaces. This use of Nanotechnology enables Ford to effectively analyze the
surfaces of plastics and metals at the molecular level.

One way that Nanoparticles are being used are as “fillers” for metals and
plastics, with the effect of increasing the strength of the produced materials
while reducing their weight in the process. The end products can then be used to
create aluminium castings for engine blocks. The engines perform better as a
result. As well, researchers are looking into ways that Nanoparticles can be
added to glass and paints to enable them to better withstand radiation and
provide self-cleaning mechanisms.

Ford is using Nanoparticles to improve the operating efficiency of car liquids.

These Nanoparticles have been reconstituted into liquids called Nanofluids.
When poured into engine oil, lubricants, transmission fluids and coolants, the
Nanofluids improve the overall properties of the liquids, leading to reduced
friction and enabling them to function more effectively at various temperatures.

9. Nanotechnology in Medicine – Nanomedicine

The use of nanotechnology in medicine offers some exciting possibilities. Some
techniques are only imagined, while others are at various stages of testing, or
actually being used today.

Nanotechnology in medicine involves applications of nanoparticles currently

under development, as well as longer ranges research that involves the use of
manufactured nano-robots to make repairs at the cellular level (sometimes
referred to as nanomedicine).

Whatever you call it, the use of nanotechnology in the field of medicine could
revolutionize the way we detect and treat damage to the human body and
disease in the future, and many techniques only imagined a few years ago are
making remarkable progress towards becoming realities.

10.   The Nanotechnology Industry:

It is increasingly common to hear people referring to `the nanotechnology
industry', just like the software or mobile phone
industries, but will such a thing ever exist? Many of the
companies working with nanotechnology are simply
applying our knowledge of the nanoscale to existing
industries, whether it is improved drug delivery
mechanisms for the pharmaceutical industry, or
producing nanoclay particles for the plastics industry. In fact nanotechnology
is an enabling technology rather than an industry in its own right. No one
would ever describe Microsoft or Oracle as being part of the electricity
industry, even though without electricity the software industry could not exist.
Rather, nanotechnology is a fundamental understanding of how nature works
at the atomic scale. New industries will be generated as a result of this
understanding, just as the understanding of how electrons can be moved in a
conductor by applying a potential difference led to electric lighting, the
telephone, computing, the internet and many other industries, all of which
would not have been possible without it.

While it is possible to buy a packet of nanotechnology, a gram of nanotubes

for example, it would have zero intrinsic value. The real value of the
nanotubes would be in their application, whether within existing industry, or to
enable the creation of a whole new one.

11. Advantages of Nanotechnology

To enumerate the advantages and disadvantages of nanotechnology, let us first
run through the good things this technology brings:

 Nanotechnology can actually revolutionize a lot of electronic products,

procedures, and applications. The areas that benefit from the continued
development of nanotechnology when it comes to electronic products
include nano transistors, nano diodes, OLED, plasma displays, quantum
computers, and many more.
 Nanotechnology can also benefit the energy sector. The development of
more effective energy-producing, energy-absorbing, and energy storage
products in smaller and more efficient devices is possible with this
technology. Such items like batteries, fuel cells, and solar cells can be built
smaller but can be made to be more effective with this technology.
  Another industry that can benefit from nanotechnology is the
manufacturing sector that will need materials like nanotubes, aerogels, nano
particles, and other similar items to produce their products with. These
materials are often stronger, more durable, and lighter than those that are
not produced with the help of nanotechnology.
 In the medical world, nanotechnology is also seen as a boon since these
can help with creating what is called smart drugs. These help cure people
faster and without the side effects that other traditional drugs have. You
will also find that the research of nanotechnology in medicine is now
focusing on areas like tissue regeneration, bone repair, immunity and even
cures for such ailments like cancer, diabetes, and other life threatening
diseases.

12. Disadvantages of Nanotechnology

When tackling the advantages and disadvantages of nanotechnology, you will
also need to point out what can be seen as the negative side of this technology:

 Included in the list of disadvantages of this science and its development is

the possible loss of jobs in the traditional farming and manufacturing
industry.
 You will also find that the development of nanotechnology can also bring
about the crash of certain markets due to the lowering of the value of oil
and diamonds due to the possibility of developing alternative sources of
energy that are more efficient and won’t require the use of fossil fuels. This
can also mean that since people can now develop products at the molecular
level, diamonds will also lose its value since it can now be mass produced.
  Atomic weapons can now be more accessible and made to be more
powerful and more destructive. These can also become more accessible
with nanotechnology.
 Since these particles are very small, problems can actually arise from the
inhalation of these minute particles, much like the problems a person gets
from inhaling minute asbestos particles.
 Presently, nanotechnology is very expensive and developing it can cost
you a lot of money. It is also pretty difficult to manufacture, which is
probably why products made with nanotechnology are more expensive.

13. Conclusions:
Nanotechnology, like any other branch of science, is primarily concerned with
understanding how nature works. We have discussed how our efforts to
produce devices and manipulate matter are still at a very primitive stage
compared to nature. Nature has the ability to design highly energy efficient
systems that operate precisely and without waste, fix only that which needs
fixing, do only that which needs doing, and no more. We do not, although one
day our understanding of nanoscale phenomena may allow us to replicate at
least part of what nature accomplishes with ease.

While many branches of what now falls under the umbrella term
nanotechnology are not new, it is the combination of existing technologies
with our new found ability to observe and manipulate at the atomic scale that
makes nanotechnology so compelling from scientific, business and political
viewpoints.

For the scientist, advancing the sum total of human knowledge has long been
the driving force behind discovery, from the gentleman scientists of the 17th
and 18th centuries to our current academic infrastructure. Nanotechnology is
at a very early stage in our attempts to understand the world around us, and
will provide inspiration and drive for many generations of scientists.

For business, nanotechnology is no different from any other technology: it will

be judged on its ability to make money. This may be in the lowering of
production costs by, for example, the use of more efficient or more selective
catalysts in the chemicals industry, by developing new products such as novel
drug delivery mechanisms or stain resistant clothing, or the creation of entirely
new markets, as the understanding of polymers did for the multi-billion euro
plastics industry.

Politically, it can be argued that fear is the primary motivation. The US has
opened up a commanding lead in terms of economic growth, despite recent
setbacks, as a result if the growth and adoption of information technology. Of
equal significance is the lead in military technology as demonstrated by the
use of unmanned drones for both surveillance and assault in recent conflicts.
Nanotechnology promises far more significant economic, military and cultural
changes than those created by the internet, and with technology advancing so
fast, and development and adoption cycles becoming shorter, playing catch-up
will not be an option for governments who are not already taking action.
Maybe the greatest short term benefit of nanotechnology is in bringing
together the disparate sciences, physical and biological, who due to the nature
of education often have had no contact since high school. Rather than
nanosubmarines or killer nanobots, the greatest legacy of nanotechnology may
well prove to be the unification of scientific disciplines and the resultant
ability of scientists, when faced with a problem, to call on the resources of the
whole of science, not just of one discipline.
 14. References:
http://physics.about.com/od/nanotechnology/p/nanotechnology.htm
http://www.nanotechproject.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology
http://iopscience.iop.org/0957-4484/14/1/001
http://jrobb.mindplex.org/
http://www.crnano.org/whatis.htm
http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2006/06/types_of_nanote.html
http://www.ita.doc.gov/td/forestprod/
http://www.nanocompositech.com/nanotechnology/nanotechnology-
applications.htm
http://nanogloss.com/nanotechnology/the-future-of-nanotechnology/
http://studyplaces.com/questions/68405-scope-for-nanotechnology-
engg-in-future-and-best-colleges-available-in-india
http://nanogloss.com/nanotechnology/advantages-and-disadvantages-
of-nanotechnology/