What is nanotechnology all about?

The answer is here. Nanotechnology is the principle of atom manipulation atom by atom, through
control of the structure of matter at the molecular level. It entails the ability to build molecular systems
with atom-by-atom precision, yielding a variety of nanomachines.
Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the sie !"" nanometers or smaller, and involves
developing materials or devices within that sie.
# basic definition$ This covers both current wor% and concepts that are more advanced.
Nanotechnology is the engineering of tiny machines & the pro'ected ability to build things from the
bottom up inside personal nanofactories ()Ns*, using techni+ues and tools being developed todayto
ma%e complete, highly advanced products. ,ltimately, nanotechnology will enable control of matter at
the nanometer scale, using mechanochemistry. -hortly after this envisioned molecular machinery is
created, it will result in a manufacturing revolution, probably causing severe disruption. It also has
serious economic, social, environmental, and military implications.
# nanometer is one billionth of a meter, roughly the width of three or four atoms. The average human
hair is about ./,""" nanometers wide. In short it is the study of the control of matter on an atomic and
molecular scale.
LYCURGUS CUP

The above cup is %nown as 0ycurgus cup it was made in 1
th
century and %nown as 0ycurgus chalice.
#ccidently because of this glass nanotechnology came into e2istence. 3hen the reflected light falls on
it the appearence is of green color and when the light is focused on it from the top it appears li%e red in
color this shown by above two figures. This appearance is because of the 4" nm silver and gold
particles present in it, silver particles are more than gold particles.
HISTORY OF NNOT!CHONOLOGY
The first use of the concepts in 5nano-technology5 was in 6There5s )lenty of 7oom at the
8ottom,6 a tal% given by physicist 7ichard 9eynman at an #merican )hysical -ociety meeting at
:altech on ;ecember .<, !</<. 9eynman described a process by which the ability to manipulate
individual atoms and molecules might be developed, using one set of precise tools to build and operate
another proportionally smaller set, and so on down to the needed scale. In the course of this, he noted,
scaling issues would arise from the changing magnitude of various physical phenomena$ gravity would
become less important, surface tension and =an der 3aals attraction would become more important,
etc. This basic idea appears plausible, and e2ponential assembly enhances it with parallelism to produce
a useful +uantity of end products.
The term 6nanotechnology6 was defined by To%yo -cience ,niversity )rofessor Norio
Taniguchi in a !<41 as follows$ 65Nano-technology5 mainly consists of the processing of, separation,
consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or by one molecule.6
In the !<>"s the basic idea of this definition was e2plored in much more depth by ;r. ?. @ric
;re2ler, through speeches and the boo%s @ngines of :reation$ The :oming @ra of Nanotechnology
(!<>A* and Nanosystems$ Bolecular Bachinery, Banufacturing, and :omputation,and so the term
ac+uired its current sense. @ngines of :reation$ The :oming @ra of Nanotechnology is considered the
first boo% on the topic of nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology and nanoscience got started in the early !<>"s with two ma'or developmentsC
the birth of cluster science and the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (-TB*. This
development led to the discovery of fullerenes in !<>/ and carbon nanotubes a few years later. In
another development, the synthesis and properties of semiconductor nanocrystals was studiedC this led
to a fast increasing number of metal and metal o2ide nanoparticles and +uantum dots. The atomic force
microscope was invented si2 years after the -TB was invented. In .""", the ,nited -tates National
Nanotechnology Initiative was founded to coordinate 9ederal nanotechnology research and
development.
The t"en# o$ nanotechnology 'ust started from !<<! which can be seen from the below table$
%ISCO&!RY TYP! N'! G! STRT G!
Industrial Tools -tone . ."" """ 8:
Industrial Betallurgy 8rone D/"" 8:
Industrial -team power Industrial !4A1
#utomation Bass production :onsumer !<"A
#utomation :omputing Information !<1A
Eealth Genetic @ngineering Genetic !</D
In#ust"ial Nanotechnology Nano age ())(
#utomation Bolecular assemblers #ssembler age ."."
#ll three 0ife assemblers 0ife age ."/"
#bove table shows the evolution of technology from ancient age to modern age. -o we can say that
todayFs age is age of nanotechnology.
NNO'T!RIL
Nano material G grain sie of !-!"" nm
The intrinsic properties of nano materials are different from conventional materials
-ubstance with high surface areas have enhanced chemical, mechanical, optical and magnetic
properties.
In aerospace and automotive applications, for e2ample, materials made from metal and o2ides of silicon
and germanium e2hibit super-plastic behaviour, undergoing elongations from !"" to !""" percent
before failure. This is because individual nano sied particles can e2pand relative to each other.
Inte"$ace an# Colloi# Science has given rise to many materials which may be useful in
nanotechnology, such as carbon nanotubes and other fullerenes, and various nanoparticles and
nanorods.
Nanoscale materials can also be used for bul* a++licationsC most present commercial applications of
nanotechnology are of this flavor.
)rogress has been made in using these materials for medical applicationsC see Nano,e#icine.
Nanoscale materials are sometimes used in solar cells which combats the cost of traditional -ilicon
solar cells
;evelopment of applications incorporating semiconductor nanoparticles to be used in the ne2t
generation of products, such as display technology, lighting, solar cells and biological imagingC see
-uantu, %ots.
PRO%UCTION '!THO%S OF NNO'T!RIL
9ollowing are the methods by which we can produce nanomaterial$
)lasma arcing
:hemical vapour deposition
@lectro deposition
-ol gel synthesis
8all milling
0ets discuss how the nanomaterial is produced. 3e will describe the above methods in brief$
PLS' RCING
#chieved by gas conduct electricity by providing a potential difference across the two electrodes so
that the gas yields up its electrons and thus ionies.
In a vacuumH Inert gas the electrodes can be made volatile
:arbon electrodes I :arbon atoms cations I to other electrodes pic% up electron I carbon
nanotubes
CH!'ICL &POUR %!POSITION
;eposition nano particulate material from the gas phase
Baterial heated I gas I deposit as a solid on a surface, usually under vacuum
It can also be used to grow surfaces
!L!CTRO%!POSITION
To ma%e electroplated materials
8y carefully controlling the no. of electrons transferred, the weight of material transferred can be
determined in accordance with faradayFs law of electrolysis.
SOL G!L SYNTH!SIS
-elf assembly process for nano material formation. # characteristic of a solution is that it is clear
-olutions are clear because molecules of nanometer sie are dispersed and move around randomly
# colloid that is suspended in a li+uid is called a sol
Then aerogels are composed of three dimensional, continuous networ%s of particles with air trapped
at their interstices
.LL 'ILLING
-mall balls are allowed to rotate around the inside of a drum and drop with gravity force on to a
solid enclosed in the drum.
8all milling brea%s down the structure into nanocrystallites.
TOOLS N% T!CHNI-U!S FOR NNOT!CHONOLOGY
There are several important modern developments. The atomic force microscope (#9B* and
the -canning Tunneling Bicroscope (-TB* are two early versions of scanning probes that launched
nanotechnology. There are other types of scanning probe microscopy, all flowing from the ideas of the
scanning confocal microscope developed by Barvin Bins%y in !<A! and the scanning acoustic
microscope (-#B* developed by :alvin Juate and cowor%ers in the !<4"s, that made it possible to see
structures at the nanoscale. The tip of a scanning probe can also be used to manipulate nanostructures (a
process called positional assembly*. 9eature-oriented scanning-positioning methodology suggested by
7ostislav 0apshin appears to be a promising way to implement these nanomanipulations in automatic
mode. Eowever, this is still a slow process because of low scanning velocity of the microscope. =arious
techni+ues of nanolithography such as optical lithography ,K-ray lithography dip pen nanolithography,
electron beam lithography or nanoimprint lithography were also developed. 0ithography is a top-down
fabrication techni+ue where a bul% material is reduced in sie to nanoscale pattern.
#nother group of nanotechnological techni+ues include those used for fabrication of nanowires,
those used in semiconductor fabrication such as deep ultraviolet lithography, electron beam lithography,
focused ion beam machining, nanoimprint lithography, atomic layer deposition, and molecular vapor
deposition, and further including molecular self-assembly techni+ues such as those employing di-bloc%
copolymers. Eowever, all of these techni+ues preceded the nanotech era, and are e2tensions in the
development of scientific advancements rather than techni+ues which were devised with the sole
purpose of creating nanotechnology and which were results of nanotechnology research.
The top-down approach anticipates nanodevices that must be built piece by piece in stages,
much as manufactured items are made. -canning probe microscopy is an important techni+ue both for
characteriation and synthesis of nanomaterials. #tomic force microscopes and scanning tunneling
microscopes can be used to loo% at surfaces and to move atoms around. 8y designing different tips for
these microscopes, they can be used for carving out structures on surfaces and to help guide self-
assembling structures. 8y using, for e2ample, feature-oriented scanning-positioning approach, atoms
can be moved around on a surface with scanning probe microscopy techni+ues. #t present, it is
e2pensive and time-consuming for mass production but very suitable for laboratory e2perimentation.
PPLICTION OF NNOT!CHNOLOGY
Insulator material (aerogels*
)hosphors (inc selenide, inc sulfide, cadmium sulfide*
Botor vehicles and aircraft (irconia, alumina*
Bachine tools (irconia*
:arbon nano tubes are also the application of nanotechnology which is described in perfect
manner as below
CR.ON NNOTU.!S
What is a Ca"bon Nanotube?
# :arbon Nanotube is a tube-shaped material, made of carbon, having a diameter measuring on the
nanometer scale. # nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, or about one ten-thousandth of the thic%ness
of a human hair. The graphite layer appears somewhat li%e a rolled-up chic%en wire with a continuous
unbro%en he2agonal mesh and carbon molecules at the ape2es of the he2agons.
:arbon Nanotubes have many structures, differing in length, thic%ness, and in the type of helicity and
number of layers. #lthough they are formed from essentially the same graphite sheet, their electrical
characteristics differ depending on these variations, acting either as metals or as semiconductors.


The above figure shows the multi-walled as well as single-walled carbon nanotubes which are the
e2amples of nanotechnology.
'/ING OF CR.ON NNOTU.!S
The carbon nano tubes are formed by following methods$
#rc discharge
0aser ablation
,se of high pressure carbon mono2ide (Ei):L*
:hemical vapor deposition (:=;*
PPLICTICONS OF CR.ON NNOTU.!S
These carbon nano tubes find numerous applications in the following fields$
@lectronics
Eydrogen storage
Baterials
Bechanical machines
-pace elevators
N@B-
PPLICTION TO '!CHNICL 'CHIN!S
;ifferent mechanical machines which can be obtained as product of nanotechnology are shown below$
It includes some applications li%e speed reducer gear, planetary gear system, Neon pump.

Gear system where one of the gear is driven gear and another is driven gear these are made by
nanomaterial and hence re+uire less space.
SP!!% R!%UC!R G!R
The figure given below shows the speed reducing gear, whose description can be given as$
Tor+ue$ !" nN-nm
Number of atoms$ !/,D1.
3idth$ !!.D nm
Eeight$ 4./ nm
;epth$ /.A nm
Gear 7atio$ !D$A
NNOFCTORI!S
The system which wor%s using the nanotechnology is %nown as nanofactory.
In nanofactory in a single product cycle, each fabricator produces one nanobloc%, appro2imately the
same sie as the fabricator. The bloc%s are then 'oined together, eight sub-bloc%s ma%ing one bloc%
twice as big. This process is repeated until eight large bloc%s are produced.
7@97@N:@-$-
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