Portal:Nanotechnology

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Welcome to the nanotechnology portal

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Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers.

Nanotechnology is very diverse, including extensions of conventional device physics, new approaches based on molecular self-assembly, developing new materials with nanoscale dimensions, and investigating whether we can directly control matter on the atomic scale. Nanotechnology entails the application of fields as diverse as surface science, organic chemistry, molecular biology, semiconductor physics, microfabrication, etc.

There is much debate on the future implications of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology may be able to create many new materials and devices with a vast range of applications, such as in medicine, electronics, biomaterials and energy production. On the other hand, nanotechnology raises many of the same issues as any new technology, including concerns about the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials, and their potential effects on global economics, as well as speculation about various doomsday scenarios.Template:/box-footer

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A schematic illustration showing how nanoparticles or other cancer drugs might be used to treat cancer

Nanomedicine

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Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine seeks to deliver a valuable set of research tools and clinically useful devices in the near future, and the National Nanotechnology Initiative expects new commercial applications in the pharmaceutical industry that may include advanced drug delivery systems, new therapies, and in vivo imaging. Tools being developed include medical applications of nanomaterials, to nanoelectronic biosensors, neuro-electronic interfaces, and even possible future applications of the speculative field of molecular nanotechnology including cell repair machines. Current problems for nanomedicine involve understanding the issues related to toxicity and environmental impact of nanoscale materials.

Nanomedical approaches to drug delivery center on developing nanoscale particles or molecules to improve drug bioavailability, whichis the presence of drug molecules where they are needed in the body and where they will do the most good. Drug delivery focuses on maximizing bioavailability both at specific places in the body and over a period of time. This can potentially be achieved by molecular targeting by nanoengineered devices. In vivo imaging is another area where tools and devices are being developed. Using nanoparticle contrast agents, images such as ultrasound and MRI have a favorable distribution and improved contrast. The new methods of nanoengineered materials that are being developed might be effective in treating illnesses and diseases such as cancer.

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Carbon nanotube

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An atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscope image of a chiral carbon nanotube
Credit: Taner Yildirim/NIST

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Harry Kroto b. 1939

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Harold Walter Kroto is a British chemist and one of the three recipients of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of buckminsterfullerene, along with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley. In the 1970s he launched a research programme at Sussex to look for carbon chains in the interstellar medium, searching for spectral evidence of longer similar molecules such as cyanobutadiyne and cyanohexatriyne, which he found in 1975–1978. He heard of laser spectroscopy work being done by Smalley and Curl at Rice University, and suggested that they should use the Rice apparatus to simulate the carbon chemistry that occurs in the atmosphere of a carbon star. The experiment carried out in September 1985 not only proved that carbon stars could produce the chains, but also fortuitously revealed the existence of the previously unknown C₆₀ species.