Melanie A.

Galedo
BSN 12-D
Question for Reflection
1. What are other examples of nanostructures?

Icosahedral twins- a nanostructure appearing for atomic clusters. The these clusters are
twenty-faced, made of ten interlinked dual-tetrahedron (bowtie) crystals, typically joined along
triangular faces having three-fold symmetry. One can think of their formation as a kind of atom-
scale self-assembly.

Nanomesh- The nanomesh is a inorganic nanostructured two-dimensional material, similar to

graphene. Nanomesh is stable under a wide range of environments like air, water and
electrolytes among others. It is also temperature resistant since it does not decompose in
temperatures up to 1275K under a vacuum. In addition to these exceptional stabilities, the
nanomesh shows the extraordinary ability to act as a scaffold for metallic nanoclusters and to
trap molecules forming a well-ordered array.

Nanohole- are a class of nanostructured material consisting of nanoscale voids in a surface

of a material. Not to be confused with nanofoam or nanoporous materials which support a
network of voids permeating throughout the material (often in a disordered state), nanohole
materials feature a regular hole pattern extending through a single surface. These can be
thought of as the inverse of a nanopillar or nanowire structure.

Nanopillar- an emerging technology within the field of nanostructures. Nanopillars are pillar
shaped nanostructures approximately 10 nanometers in diameter that can be grouped together
in lattice like arrays.[1] They are a type of metamaterial, which means that nanopillars get their
attributes from being grouped into artificially designed structures and not their natural properties.
Nanopillars set themselves apart from other nanostructures due to their unique shape. Each
nanopillar has a pillar shape at the bottom and a tapered pointy end on top.
2. What tools can manipulate nanostructures?
A. Nano-scaled lithography B. Nanoprinting and imprinting
Photo-lithography - X-ray lithography - Microcontact printing Soft lithography
(Stamp) - Imprinting Nanoimprinting (Thermal)
- Lithography using scanning probe instruments Step-and-Flash (UV)
- Dip Pen Nanolithography (based on AFM) C. Nano-manipulating (atoms or molecules)
- Electron-beam lithography (based on SEM)
C. Nano imprinting techniques (soft-lithography)
3. How can nanotechnology address problems in the environment?
The Application of Nanotechnology to Environmental Issues
In trying to help our ailing environment, nanotechnology researchers and developers are
pursuing the following avenues:
1. Generating less pollution during the manufacture of materials.
-reduce the polluting byproducts generated in the process used to manufacture propylene
oxide.
2. Producing solar cells that generate electricity at a competitive cost.
- Researcher have demonstrated that an array of silicon nanowires embedded in a polymer
results in low cost but high efficiency solar cells.
3. Increasing the electricity generated by windmills.
-Epoxy containing carbon nanotubes is being used to make windmill blades. The resulting
blades are stronger and lower weight and therefore the amount of electricity generated by
each windmill is greater.
4. Cleaning up organic chemicals polluting groundwater.
-Researchers have shown that iron nanoparticles can be effective in cleaning up organic
solvents that are polluting groundwater. The iron nanoparticles disperse throughout the body of
water and decompose the organic solvent in place.
4. How can nanotechnology be used in the prevention and treatment of illness?
-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.
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. ne application of
nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to
deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells).
Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allows direct
treatment of those cells. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows
for earlier detection of disease.
For example researchers at North Carolina State University are developing a method to
deliver cardiac stem cells to damaged heart tissue. They attach nanovesicles that are attracted
to an injury to the stem cells to increase the amount of stem cells delivered to an injured tissue.
5. What is another example of a nanotechnology and how does it work?
Nanotechnology: Any technology, including traditional industrial and chemical processes,
that involves structures between one and one hundred nanometers, with novel properties.
Nanofactories: On a nanoscale, every manufacturing method is simply a method for
arranging atoms. Also called “molecular assemblers,” nanofactories are tiny, closed-system
manufacturing units that maneuver, combine, and manipulate reactive molecules to build
complex physical and biological structures – from minerals, to human organs and bones. A single
human cell is the perfect example of a biological molecular manufacturing unit, or nanofactory,
that reads digital genetic material (DNA) to guide the process of combination.
Nanobots: These are products of nanofactories, but are not expected to be self-replicating or
directed. Nanobots fall at the intersection of nanotechnology and robotics and are more science-
fiction than science, at this point. However, there are certainly intriguing possibilities for their
use, especially within human bodies.

References:
 Lewis, M. “What is Nanotechnology”. (2019)
 https://www.ntnu.edu/nano/nanostructured-materials
 https://www.nanoembrace.eu/science/nanostructures
 https://www.explainthatstuff.com/nanotechnologyforkids.html
 https://www.nnci.net/what-nano
 https://www.understandingnano.com/medicine.html
 http://nanopedia.case.edu/NWPage.php?page=nanomedicine