WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY

Although there is much current excitement and hype about nanomaterials, there is really nothing new about nanoscience. In fact, the earliest civilizations used nanoscale materials for a variety of applications. For example, the Mayans used a magnesium aluminum sihcate clay called palygorskite, which contained nanosized channels that were filled with water. The Mesopotamian civilizations used colored glass for decorative applications that contained embedded metallic nanoparticles. 

The creation of functional materials, devices and systems through control of matter on the nanometer length scale (1-100 nm), and exploitation of novel phenomena and properties (physical, chemical, biological) at that length scale. 

This technique was co-invented by Calvin Quate and Hemantha Kumar Wickra-masinghe. Interestingly, when Quate and Binnig first submitted their work to the peer-reviewed journal Physical Review Letters, it was rejected due to such farfetched claims as being able to measure forces on individual atoms. However, 

The introduction of a new architecture such as nanomaterials necessitates the need for new terminology and methods of classification and characterization. We must also understand the mechanisms by which individual nanostructures may assemble into larger materials, as this will greatly affect the properties of the bulk device for a particular application. This chapter will focus on all of these important issues, with an introduction to the various types of nanomaterials, laboratory techniques used for their synthesis, and (perhaps most importantly) their role in current/future applications. 

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What is nanotechnology Imagine having a machine that can go forward, backward, right, and left as well as up and down at various angles. Now imagine that this machine is... 

National Nanotechnology Initiative, 2007. What is nanotechnology . 

National Nanotechnology Initiative, 2001. Nanotech Eacts What is Nanotechnology NNI, Washington, DC. Available at , accessed May 28, 2009. 

What is Nanotechnology Introduction to Size Scale / Pretest... 

What makes metal nanoclusters scientifically so interesting The answer is that they, in many respects, no longer follow classical physical laws as all bulk materials do, but are correctly to be considered by means of quantum mechanics. This is not only valid for metals. In principle any other solid or in some cases even liquid material exhibit so-called nano-effects when reaching a critical size. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are based on those effects. In the course of only 1-2 decades nanosciences and nanotechnology have developed to such an extent that our daily life already is and will be increasingly influenced in a way that cannot be compared with any other technological development in mankind s history [2]. A few examples will help to better understand what is meant. 

Much of what is sold as nanotechnology is in fact a recasting of previous materials science, which is leading to a nanotech industry built solely on selling nanotubes, nanowires, and the like which will end up with a few suppliers selling low margin products in huge volumes . 

As in all active areas of research, there are several approaches to the development of nanotechnology. One approach involves techniques similar to sculpting, where one starts with a large piece of material and cuts away what is not needed. The problem is that a lot of the material winds up wasted on the cutting room floor. An alternative approach, described in the following section, starts at the bottom or lower end of the scale and builds up from there. An important feature of this approach is the bonding of molecules to make even larger, more complex molecules—supramolecular chemistry. 

The study of confined quantum systems has attracted increasing attention from several research groups in the world due to the unusual physical and chemical properties exhibited by such systems when subject to spatial limitation. Such novel properties, not present in conventional materials, have marked a new era for the synthesis of modern materials - structured at the nanoscale - and leading to what is now called nanotechnology. 

The ramifications of nanotechnology in the food arena have yet to be fully realized. This requires further research into biopolymer assembly behavior and applications of nanomaterials in the food industry. Researchers should keep abreast of the development of research tools and what is being done to push resolution limits for techniques such as atomic force spectroscopy or the synchrotron coupled to various spectroscopic techniques and higher resolution microscopy. New techniques should be exploited and the knowledge gained used to understand the dynamics and interactions of food materials at the single-molecule level and to describe assembly behavior in quantitative thermodynamic terms. There are questions about the interactions of nanoparticles with the food matrix and within the human body. These questions need to be addressed by future research (Simon and Joner, 2008 Sletmoen et ah, 2008). 

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