Nanoscience: The Science of the Small in Physics, Engineering, Chemistry, Biology and Medicine

Product Description
Emerged during the last two decades, nanoscience stands out for its interdisciplinarity. Barriers between disciplines seem to disappear at the convergence of the very small, where basic principles and tools are universal. Novel properties are inherent to nanosized systems due to a quantum effects and a reduction in dimensionality: nanoscience is likely to revolutionize many areas of human activity, such as materials science, nanoelectronics, information processing, biotechnology and medicine. This textbook spans over all fields of nanoscience, covering its broad applications. After a sound introduction to the physical and chemical principles of nanoscience, the text then moves onto the wider fields of microscopy, nanoanalysis, synthesis, nanocrystals, nanowires, nanolayers, carbon nanostructures, bulk nanomaterials, nanomechanics, nanophotonics, nanofluidics, nanomagnetism, nanotechnology for computers, nanochemistry, nanobiology, and nanomedicine. Didactically structured and replete with hundreds of illustrations, this uniquely compiled textbook is aimed at graduate and advanced undergraduate students of all natural sciences.

Nanoscience: The Science of the Small in Physics, Engineering, Chemistry, Biology and Medicine

Big Technology in Small Things

Back in 1972, something very small came into the United States, and it has changed the lives of millions of people. The Honda CVCC, introduced to America in 1972, a year before the beginning of the oil crisis, has changed technology in the automotive industry forever. Nobody ever imagined the impact it would have on America’s culture or economy. That change didn’t come overnight, though. It took almost 20 years for Honda to be considered a premier car company. Now, big manufacturers, like General Motors and Ford Motor Corporation, are trying to develop cars to compete with Honda, which was unthinkable when the CVCC first debuted.

The “Asian Invasion” didn’t happen overnight, and the small things in automotive technology are not going to stop making big changes. One of the smallest technologies is “nanotechnology.” Nanotechnology is research done in the range of 0 – 100 nanometers. To give an example of how small a nanometer is, a pinhead is about 1.5 million nanometers.

How could something this small be affecting the auto industry in such a big way?

Technology at this level is already being employed in the circuitry of your car’s electronics. It is being used to develop better products in everyday life as well, from tennis balls and hard drives, even sunscreen. Nanotechnology plays a very active role. According to an article on israel21c.com’s website by, Bob Rosenbaum, December 27th, 2004, a company called ApNano Materials is extending that technology even into engine lubrication. They have developed a lubrication called NanoLub, based on spherical inorganic nanoparticles. Its function is the same as the existing lubricants, to reduce wear and tear on moving parts, but the way it performs is drastically different. According to the creators, the use of NanoLub can even make the need for an oil change obsolete. It is already being tested in power plant turbines, medical industry equipment, and maintenance-free environments.

The point is…

NanoLub uses technology that is already being used in synthetic lubes today. The molecular structure was built using nanotechnology. Honda didn’t become the standard household name it is now until after 20 years of being sold in the United States, and they were around for more than 50 years before that. Like Honda, synthetic lubricants have been building a name for themselves and are becoming more and more common as the lubricant of choice. The oil change business isn’t going away in the near future and more and more people are going to make the switch to synthetics. Nanotechnology isn’t going to replace synthetic oils. It is only going to make them better.

Visit: http://www.synthetic-motor-oils.com

Great Things Come in Small Packages: Nanotechnology and Energy

If current news is any indication, Nanotechnology is poised to play a significant role in the development of clean, less expensive energy. The potential of nanotechnology for solving some of today’s greatest energy challenges is vast.

Nanotechnology refers broadly to a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme is the control of matter on the molecular level in scales smaller than one micrometer, normally 1 to 100 nanometers, and the fabrication of devices within that size range. For scale, a single virus particle is about 100 nanometers in width.

Encompassing nanoscale science, engineering and technology, nanotechnology involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and manipulating matter at this length scale.”

At this size dimension, the physical, chemical, and biological properties of materials differ in fundamental and valuable ways from the properties of individual atoms, molecules, or bulk matter. The properties displayed at the nanoscale create a host of potential innovative uses for nanomaterials. One of these uses includes the creation of exciting and revolutionary energy applications. These potential nanoscale energy applications apply to a host of different sources of energy, including hydrogen, geothermal, unconventional natural gas, fission, and solar energy.

While hydrogen is an energy storage medium, it is not a primary energy source. Therefore, full realization of hydrogen as an alternative energy source is frustrated by gaps in technology, which do not precipitate the efficient and cost-effective storage and transport of hydrogen. Nanoscience provides new approaches to basic questions about the interaction of hydrogen with materials to enable the efficient and cost-effective storage and transport of hydrogen.

Applying nanotechnology to geothermal energy increases the opportunities to develop geothermal resources by enhancing thermal conductivity or aiding in the development of noncorrosive materials that could be used for geothermal energy production.

The recovery of unconventional sources of natural gas is yet another potential application of nanotechnology. Unconventional sources of natural gas include tight sandstones, shale gas, and coal bed methane. Nanotechnology applications may prove useful in accessing or exploiting these unconventional natural gas sources. For instance, nanocatalysts and nanoscale membranes may prove useful in assisting in Gas to Liquids production. Furthermore, certain nanostructured materials may assist in compressed natural gas transport.

Nanotechnology may also prove useful in solving the waste problems of the nuclear energy industry. For instance, certain nano-engineered barriers may prove useful in preventing the migration of or containing nuclear waste products.

Nanotechnology applications may assist in making solar energy more economical. Nanoscience can be utilized to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells, creating cost-efficient conversion systems, effective solar power storage systems or even the generation of solar energy on a larger scale. For instance, “nanopatterning” can artificially change the optical properties of materials to allow light to be trapped in solar cells.

Nanotechnology might someday allow for more powerful, more efficient and less expensive energy generation, storage transmission and distribution. Nanotechnology is being used to optimize production from existing energy sources and to exploit new sources such as geothermal, liquefied natural gas, nuclear and solar energy. Nanotechnology is also improving and opening new possibilities for the transmission and storage of energy, especially electricity and possibly hydrogen in the future. Nanotechnologies have the potential to reduce energy consumption by making it possible to manufacture lighter and/or more energy efficient cards and appliances. Even though nanotechnology is a relatively young field, the potential for future nanotechnology applications within the energy industry could turn out to be one of the most important technological developments of our time.