Bartolay, Zarina Luz R. Juan, Jane Sofhia A. Santillan, Patricia Mae R.

De Belen, Patricia Anne V. Majaba, Hannah Marie O.

Esmedia, Rhona Mae P. Mata, Joe-V B.

GROUP 1
NANOTECHNOLOGY

DEFINITION

- It is the science and technology of precisely manipulating the structure of matter

at the molecular level (Dictionary.com)
- It is the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science
fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering (Nano.gov)
- Norio Taniguchi coined the term ‘nanotechnology’ in 1974.
- The prefix ‘nano’ comes from the Greek word nanos, which meant ‘little old man” or “dwarf”.
- It is conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers
- One nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or 10-9 of a meter, or about the size of six carbon atom in a
row.

How small is a nanometer?

 There are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch

 A sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick
 On a comparative scale, if a marble were a nanometer, then one meter would be the
size of the Earth

HISTORY

 1955 – K. Eric Drexler

 Development of Molecular Nanotechnology --> nanosystems, machinery, and manufacturing

 1959 – Richard P. Feynman

 There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom
 "Entire 24-volume of Encyclopedia Britannica --> Head of a Pin
 "If ourselves produce at such a small level, why couldn't we produce at a similar or atomic
level?”
 "manipulating and controlling things on a small scale"

 1974 – Norio Tanaguchi

 1980 - Gerb Binning and Heinrich Rohrer --> IBM Zurich - scanning tunneling microscope
 1991 - Sumio Iijima --> carbon nanotube

IMPORTANCE AND USES

1. SPORTING GOODS - Even sporting goods has wandered into the nano realm.
2. BETTER AIR QUALITY - Nanotechnology can improve the performance of catalysts used to transform
vapors escaping from cars or industrial plants into harmless gasses.
3. SPACE - Nanotechnology may hold the key to making space-flight more practical.
 4. ELECTRONICS - Nanotechnology holds some answers for how we might increase the capabilities of
electronics devices while we reduce their weight and power consumption.
5. MEDICINE - Researchers are developing customized nanoparticles the size of molecules that can deliver
drugs directly to diseased cells in your body.
6. FUELS - Nanotechnology can address the shortage of fossil fuels.
7. SOLAR CELLS - Companies have developed nanotech solar cells that can be manufactured at
significantly lower cost than conventional solar cells.
8. CLEANER WATER - Nanotechnology is being used to develop solutions to three very different problems
in water quality.
9. FUEL CELLS - Nanotechnology is being used to reduce the cost of catalysts used in fuel cells to produce
hydrogen ions from fuel such as methanol.
10. FOOD - Nanotechnology is having an impact on several aspects of food science, from how food is
grown to how it is packaged.
11. BATTERIES - Companies are currently developing batteries using nanomaterials.
12. CHEMICAL SENSORS - Nanotechnology can enable sensors to detect very small amounts of chemical
vapors
13. FABRIC - Making composite fabric with nano-sized particles or fibers allows improvement of fabric
properties without a significant increase in weight, thickness, or stiffness as might have been the case
with previously-used techniques.

CURRENT NEWS AND TRENDS

1. NEW COMPUTER MODEL DESIGNS A DRUG DELIVERY STRATEGY TO FIGHT CANCER

Stanford researchers have created a computer simulation, validated by experimental results, to
help design drug-delivery nanoparticles that carry cancer-fighting medicines directly to tumors, while
minimizing the potential side-effects on healthy cells.

2. ENGINEERS DEVELOP FIRST METHOD FOR CONTROLLING NANOMOTORS

Engineers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed the first method for selecting
and switching the mechanical motion of nanomotors among multiple modes with simple visible light as
the stimulus.

3. NANOCHIP COULD HEAL INJURIES OR REGROW ORGANS WITH ONE TOUCH, SAY RESEARCHERS
A tiny device that sits on the skin and uses an electric field to reprogramme cells could be a
breakthrough in the way we treat injured or ageing tissue.

4. SCIENTISTS HAVE CREATED TINY 'MICROFLOWERS' THAT CAN GROW AND BLOOM IN
THREE HOURS
Australian scientists have created artificial flowers that are so small that 10 could fit along the
width of a human hair. The microflowers were created by a team from the RMIT-Indian Institute of
Chemical Technology Research Centre, and are actually tiny chemical structures that 'grow' and 'bloom'
when they come in contact with water, mimicking the behaviour of real flowers.