Nanotechnology PDF

Nanotechnology What is Nanotechnology? Nanotechnology deals with matter at the atomic and molecular scale. Nanomaterials are materials that have particles between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in size. A nanometre is 1 billionth of a metre Particles this small cannot be seen by the nake...

Nanotechnology What is Nanotechnology? Nanotechnology deals with matter at the atomic and molecular scale. Nanomaterials are materials that have particles between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in size. A nanometre is 1 billionth of a metre Particles this small cannot be seen by the naked eye, or by a light microscope Nanomaterials Materials of this size have special properties that can be manipulated in order to perform specialised tasks. Applications of nanotechnology are already in use in medicine, materials fabrication, electronics, and energy production. Two elements that have shown promise in nanotechnology are carbon and gold. Carbon nanotubes These are an allotrope of carbon. An allotrope is a different physical form of an element Carbon has four different valence electrons so it can bond with four other elements. Sometimes they bond to other carbon atoms and form 3 bonds. This changes the properties of carbon into graphene sheets that form CARBON NANOTUBES. Nanotube projects Bulletproof armour-light weight body armour is being developed that allows the wearer more flexibility than current Kevlar materials. It is also stronger than Kevlar. Synthetic muscles-nanotubes are woven in with yarn and filled with wax. These muscles can lift weights 200 times heavier than normal muscle. Setting broken bones-nanotubes are used as a scaffold for new bone material to grow around Oil spill clean-up-Adding boron to nanotubes gives them sponge like properties that allow them to absorb many times their weight in oil. Increased surface area When particle size becomes VERY small the properties of a material can markedly change Chemical reactions occur at the surface of a material, so the smaller the particles are, the larger the surface area, and the more reactive they are. Particles on the nanoscale can be very explosive! Space elevator Scientists at NASA are working to build a machine that allows objects to travel into space without having to be launched. It is estimated that this will cost 1/5 of the cost of launching a rocket The column needs to be 35000km vertical There are trials to construct this with extremely long, light and flexible nanoparticles Colloidal gold Gold at the nanoparticle size acts and behaves differently Gold can act as a colloid (suspended particles) in a liquid- usually water- and depending on the size of the particles it reflects different colours Gold in medicine Gold nanorods are being used to detect cancer. They are also being used to fight cancer. They can attach themselves to cancer cells and lasers can then be used to target these and convert what would be normally harmless light into heat. This destroys the cancer cell it is attached to. Invisibility Cloak Some nanoparticles actually become invisible when they are small enough. This is technology that is leading the charge in the innovation of invisibility cloaks and blankets that would be particularly useful for the defence forces. Sunscreens Invisible sunscreens exist due to the addition of nanosize zinc oxide These particles absorb UV light, and they are transparent because they are so small that visible light cannot reflect off them (they are smaller than the light wavelengths, so light cannot reflect back and hit our eye) Safety Issues and Regulations Due to their extremely small size and increased reactivity it is important to monitor the potential risks to humans Another concern is the fact that particle size is extremely small…so small that they could penetrate our cells. What effect could this have on our bodies? The CSIRO monitors the risks of nanomaterials and their production.