NanoTechnology

Types Of Nanotechnology:
1. Nanomedicine.
2.Nanomaterial.
3.Nanoparticles.
4.Nanoelectronics.
5.Molecular Nanotechnology.
6.Nanorobotics.
1.Nanomedicine:
Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine ranges f
rom the medical applications of nanomaterials, to nanoelectronic biosensors, and
even possible future applications of molecular nanotechnology. Current problems
for nanomedicine involve understanding the issues related to toxicity and envir
onmental impact of nanoscale materials. One nanometer is one-millionth of a mill
imeter.
The biological and medical research communities have exploited the unique proper
ties of nanomaterials for various applications (e.g., contrast agents for cell i
maging and therapeutics for treating cancer). Terms such as biomedical nanotechn
ology, nanobiotechnology, and nanomedicine are used to describe this hybrid fiel
d. Functionalities can be added to nanomaterials by interfacing them with biolog
ical molecules or structures. The size of nanomaterials is similar to that of mo
st biological molecules and structures; therefore, nanomaterials can be useful f
or both in vivo and in vitro biomedical research and applications. Thus far, the
integration of nanomaterials with biology has led to the development of diagnos
tic devices, contrast agents, analytical tools, physical therapy applications, a
nd drug delivery vehicles.
Nanomedicine seeks to deliver a valuable set of research tools and clinically us
eful devices in the near future. The National Nanotechnology Initiative expects
new commercial applications in the pharmaceutical industry that may include adva
nced drug delivery systems, new therapies, and in vivo imaging. Neuro-electronic
interfaces and other nanoelectronics-based sensors are another active goal of r
esearch. Further down the line, the speculative field of molecular nanotechnolog
y believes that cell repair machines could revolutionize medicine and the medica
l field.
2.Nanomaterials:
Nanomaterials is a field that takes a materials science-based approach to nanote
chnology. It studies materials with morphological features on the nanoscale, and
especially those that have special properties stemming from their nanoscale dim
ensions. Nanoscale is usually defined as smaller than a one tenth of a micromete
r in at least one dimension, though this term is sometimes used for even smaller
materials.
On 18 October 2011, the European Commission adopted the following definition of
a nanomaterial.
A natural, incidental or manufactured material containing particles, in an u
nbound state or as an aggregate or as an agglomerate and where, for 50% or more
of the particles in the number size distribution, one or more external dimension
s is in the size range 1 nm
100 nm. In specific cases and where warranted by con
cerns for the environment, health, safety or competitiveness the number size dis
tribution threshold of 50% may be replaced by a threshold between 1 and 50%.
An important aspect of nanotechnology is the vastly increased ratio of surface a
rea to volume present in many nanoscale materials, which makes possible new quan
tum mechanical effects. One example is the quantum size effect where the electroni
c properties of solids are altered with great reductions in particle size. Nanop
articles, for example, take advantage of their dramatically increased surface ar

ea to volume ratio. Their optical properties, e.g. fluorescence, become a functi

on of the particle diameter. This effect does not come into play by going from m
acro to micro dimensions. However, it becomes pronounced when the nanometer size
range is reached.
A certain number of physical properties also alter with the change from macrosco
pic systems. Novel mechanical properties of nanomaterials is a subject of nanome
chanics research. When brought into a bulk material, nanoparticles can strongly
influence the mechanical properties of the material, like stiffness or elasticit
y. For example, traditional polymers can be reinforced by nanoparticles resultin
g in novel materials which can be used as lightweight replacements for metals. S
uch nanotechnologically enhanced materials may enable a weight reduction accompa
nied by an increase in stability and improved functionality. Catalytic activitie
s also reveal new behaviour in the interaction with biomaterials.
3.Nanoparticle:
In nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that behaves as a who
le unit with respect to its transport and properties. Particles are further clas
sified according to diameter. Coarse particles cover a range between 10,000 and
2,500 nanometers. Fine particles are sized between 2,500 and 100 nanometers. Ult
rafine particles, or nanoparticles are sized between 1 and 100 nanometers. The r
eason for this double name of the same object is that, during the 1970-80's, whe
n the first thorough fundamental studies with "nanoparticles" were underway in t
he USA and Japan, (within an ERATO Project)they were called "ultrafine particles
" (UFP). However, during the 1990s before the National Nanotechnology Initiative
was launched in the USA, the new name, "nanoparticle" had become fashionable (s
ee, for example the same senior author's paper 20 years later addressing the sam
e issue, lognormal distribution of sizes). Nanoparticles may or may not exhibit
size-related properties that differ significantly from those observed in fine pa
rticles or bulk materials. Although the size of most molecules would fit into th
e above outline, individual molecules are usually not referred to as nanoparticl
es.
Nanoclusters have at least one dimension between 1 and 10 nanometers and a narro
w size distribution. Nanopowders are agglomerates of ultrafine particles, nanopa
rticles, or nanoclusters. Nanometer-sized single crystals, or single-domain ultr
afine particles, are often referred to as nanocrystals.
Nanoparticle research is currently an area of intense scientific interest due to
a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical and electronic
fields
4.Nanoelectronics:
Nanoelectronics refer to the use of nanotechnology on electronic components, esp
ecially transistors. Although the term nanotechnology is generally defined as ut
ilizing technology less than 100 nm in size, nanoelectronics often refer to tran
sistor devices that are so small that inter-atomic interactions and quantum mech
anical properties need to be studied extensively. As a result, present transisto
rs do not fall under this category, even though these devices are manufactured w
ith 45 nm, 32 nm, or 22 nm technology.
Nanoelectronics are sometimes considered as disruptive technology because presen
t candidates are significantly different from traditional transistors. Some of t
hese candidates include: hybrid molecular/semiconductor electronics, one dimensi
onal nanotubes/nanowires, or advanced molecular electronics.
5.Molecular nanotechnology:
Molecular nanotechnology (MNT) is a technology based on the ability to build str
uctures to complex, atomic specifications by means of mechanosynthesis. This is
distinct from nanoscale materials. Based on Richard Feynman's vision of miniatur
e factories using nanomachines to build complex products (including additional n

anomachines), this advanced form of nanotechnology (or molecular manufacturing[2

]) would make use of positionally-controlled mechanosynthesis guided by molecula
r machine systems. MNT would involve combining physical principles demonstrated
by chemistry, other nanotechnologies, and the molecular machinery of life with t
he systems engineering principles found in modern macro scale factories.
While conventional chemistry uses inexact processes obtaining inexact results, a
nd biology exploits inexact processes to obtain definitive results, molecular na
notechnology would employ original definitive processes to obtain definitive res
ults. The desire in molecular nanotechnology would be to balance molecular react
ions in positionally-controlled locations and orientations to obtain desired che
mical reactions, and then to build systems by further assembling the products of
these reactions.
A roadmap for the development of MNT is an objective of a broadly based technolo
gy project led by Battelle (the manager of several U.S. National Laboratories) a
nd the Foresight Institute. The roadmap was originally scheduled for completion
by late 2006, but was released in January 2008.The Nanofactory Collaboration is
a more focused ongoing effort involving 23 researchers from 10 organizations and
4 countries that is developing a practical research agenda specifically aimed a
t positionally-controlled diamond mechanosynthesis and diamondoid nanofactory de
velopment. In August 2005, a task force consisting of 50+ international experts
from various fields was organized by the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology t
o study the societal implications of molecular nanotechnology.
6.Nanorobotics:
Nanorobotics is the emerging technology field creating machines or robots whose
components are at or close to the scale of a nanometer (10-9 meters).More specif
ically, nanorobotics refers to the nanotechnology engineering discipline of desi
gning and building nanorobots, with devices ranging in size from 0.1 10 micrometer
s and constructed of nanoscale or molecular components. The names nanobots, nano
ids, nanites, nanomachines or nanomites have also been used to describe these de
vices currently under research and development
Nanomachines are largely in the research-and-development phase, but some primiti
ve molecular machines have been tested. An example is a sensor having a switch a
pproximately 1.5 nanometers across, capable of counting specific molecules in a
chemical sample. The first useful applications of nanomachines might be in medic
al technology, which could be used to identify and destroy cancer cells. Another
potential application is the detection of toxic chemicals, and the measurement
of their concentrations, in the environment. Rice University has demonstrated a
single-molecule car developed by a chemical process and including buckyballs for
wheels. It is actuated by controlling the environmental temperature and by posi
tioning a scanning tunneling microscope tip.
Another definition is a robot that allows precision interactions with nanoscale
objects, or can manipulate with nanoscale resolution. Such devices are more rela
ted to microscopy or scanning probe microscopy, instead of the description of na
norobots as molecular machine. Following the microscopy definition even a large
apparatus such as an atomic force microscope can be considered a nanorobotic ins
trument when configured to perform nanomanipulation. For this perspective, macro
scale robots or microrobots that can move with nanoscale precision can also be c
onsidered nanorobots.