NANOTECHNOLOGY

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City

What is Nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology is defined as the study and use of  The prefix "nano" comes from
structures between 1 nanometer and 100 nanometers in size. a ... Greek word meaning
To give you an idea of how small that is, it would take eight
hundred 100 nanometer particles side by side to match the dwarf.
width of a human hair.
Nano technology can be used across all the other science
fields, such as:  How many nanometers are
there in a meter? One billion
Chemistry

 According to the
Engineeri Biology
ng Environmental Protection
Agency, what is the size range
of a nanomaterial?1-100 nm
Material
Physics
Science

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

Nanoparticles
Particle with a nominal diameter (such as geometric, aerodynamic, mobility, projected-area or otherwise) of 100
nanometers or less.

Table Salt (300,000 nm) Hair (100,000 nm) Carbon Fibers (3,000 nm) Red Blood Cell (3,000 nm)

Carbon Nanotubes Hemoglobin Molecule Buckyballs (1 nm)

(50 nm) (5 nm)

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

Properties of materials can be different at the nanoscale
• First, nanomaterials have a relatively larger surface area when
compared to the same mass of material produced in a larger
form (can make materials more chemically reactive in some
cases materials that are inert in their larger form are reactive
when produced in their nanoscale form) 
• Second, so-called quantum effects can begin to dominate the
behavior of matter at the nanoscale - particularly at the lower
end – affecting the optical, electrical and magnetic behavior of
materials.

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

What technologies use nanotechnology?
• titanium dioxide and in sunscreen, cosmetics and some food
products; 
• silver nano-particles in food packaging, clothing, disinfectants
and household appliances such as Silver Nano; 
• carbon nano-tubes for stain-resistant textiles;
• used in developing countries to help treat disease and prevent
health issues. The umbrella term for this kind of
nanotechnology is Nano-medicine; and
• cerium oxide as a fuel catalyst

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

How is nanotechnology used in everyday life?

The average person already encounters nanotechnology in a

range of everyday consumer products – nanoparticles of silver
are used to deliver antimicrobial properties in hand washes,
bandages, and socks, and zinc or titanium nanoparticles are the
active UV-protective elements in modern sunscreens.

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

Is nanotechnology harmful?

Out of three human studies, only one showed a passage of

inhaled nanoparticles into the bloodstream. Materials which by
themselves are not very harmful could be toxic if they are
inhaled in the form of nanoparticles. The effects of inhaled
nanoparticles in the body may include lung inflammation and
heart problems.

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

Why is nanotechnology so important?

Nanotechnology improves existing industrial processes,

materials and applications by scaling them down to the
nanoscale in order to ultimately fully exploit the unique quantum
and surface phenomena that matter exhibits at the nanoscale.

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

Advantages & Disadvantages of Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology encompasses science, medicine, engineering,

computing and robotics at this scale, called the nanoscale.
Nanotechnology offers the potential for new and faster kinds of
computers, more efficient power sources and life-saving
medical treatments.
Potential disadvantages include
• economic disruption and possible threats to security,
• privacy, health and
• the environment

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

How it Started?
The ideas and concepts behind nanoscience and nanotechnology started with a talk entitled

“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” 

by physicist Richard Feynman (1959)
In this speech Feynman discussed the importance of
“manipulating and controlling things on a small scale" and how
they could "tell us much of great interest about the strange
phenomena that occur in complex situations." 

Over a decade later, in his explorations

of ultra precision machining, Professor
Norio Taniguchi coined the term
“Nanotechnology” (1974).

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

The invention of Scanning Tunneling Microscope

A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is an instrument for imaging

surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors:

Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer (at IBM Zürich), the Nobel Prize in

Physics in 1986

Scanning Tunneling Microscope

Gerd Heinrich
Binnig Rohrer

Nobel Price

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

Example of Nanotechnology
Samsung “Silver Nano” Washers Nano Breeze Air Purifier
“Nano Technology…when converted to such
a level a material may take on new properties
and functions…Silver Nano ions easily penetrate
cells of microorganisms…sterilize over 650 types
of bacteria and serve a better world to you in
style.”

Zelens
“Harnesses the dramatic anti-oxidant power of
Fullerene C60, preventing environmental damage
to the skin’s DNA”
A UV tube is wrapped in fiberglass
coated by a layer of titanium dioxide
crystals at 40 nanometers diameter.
The tube charges the crystals to create
“powerful oxidizing agents” that
destroy airborne germs and pollutants
over the tube's surface.

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

Future Applications of Nano Technology

• Electronics

• Coatings

• Fuel Cells

• Water filters

• Composites

• Drugs

• Cancer Detection & Treatment

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B

 References
• https://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/definition
• http://www.trynano.org/about/history-nanotechnology
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norio_Taniguchi
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCX78-8-q0
• http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/154664-ibm-creates-worlds-smallest-movie-with-a-handful-of-precisely-
placed-atoms
• https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/from-nanotech-to-nanoscience

Laguna State Polytechnic University San Pablo City – BSCS 2B