Nanotechnology- The Backbone of Advance Materials

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Contribution of Nanotechnology in the Development of Advance Materials

Nanotechnology is the technology which deals with the manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale to obtain unique mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties. Nanomaterials are referred to as those class of materials having atleast any one of their dimensions in nanoscale usually in the range of 1-1000 nanometres. With the progress of civilization mankind has discovered different types of materials to meet their specific needs. Bulk metals occupied a huge part as the main material of use in almost every field but with progress of science and technology there is always need for advance materials with amazing mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. Nanotechnology has paved the way for the development of different nanomaterials with unique material properties that can be used for the development of high strength materials for advance applications. Nanomaterial is a broad term which represents a wide class of materials at nanometre scale such as nanoparticle, nanowire, nanoplate, nanofibre, nanorod, nanotube, nanocomposite. Here is a brief idea of the different class of nanomaterials. Nanoparticle are three dimensional nanostructre, nanowire and nanoplate are referred as one dimensional nanostructure of respective shapes with nanowire having very high length to width ratio, nanofibre is a two dimensional nanostructure with its hollow form known as nanotube and solid form known as nanorod, nanocomposite is a solid having at least one physically and chemically distinct region in nanometre scale. Different types of nanomaterials show unique material properties with ultra-high mechanical properties owing to their extremely large surface and/or interface areas in comparison to bulk materials. Good combination of strength and toughness along with light weight is one of the prime requirement in the development of any advance materials for applications in vital fields like defense and aerospace. Steel has proved to be one of the most important materials used in almost every fields and different grades of advance steels have been developed by several researchers worldwide to get the best combination of high strength and toughness for using in advance applications. Steel as a material increases the weight much more and so different nanomaterials are emerging as the best solution to the optimum combination of high strength and toughness along with light weight. Researches show that several metallic and non-metallic nanoparticles and nanowires shows excellent mechanical properties and thus can be used as reinforcing agent in bulk matrix to develop advance nanocomposites. Composite material  is a material made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties that, when combined, produce a material with characteristics different from the individual components and thus shows amazing material properties. The individual components remain separate and distinct within the finished structure, differentiating composites from mixtures and solid solutions. Nanocomposite materials show much enhanced mechanical and material properties along with light weight in comparison to bulk composite materials and thus they can be probable candidate for using in advance defense and aerospace applications. Vigorous researches using nanomaterials are going throughout the world continuously striving to achieve further advance materials with excellent combination of strength and toughness combined with light weight and other unique material properties.

Nanotechnology Revolutionizing Life

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The Journey from Macro to Nanotechnology and its role in revolutionizing human life

Nanotechnology is no doubt one of the most amazing field as all studies and researches deal with investigation and application of concepts at nanometre scale. The investigation of the behavior of different materials at nanoscale show unique physical, mechanical, thermal, chemical and electrical properties due to immense surface to volume ratio in comparison to their bulk counterparts. Thus nanotechnology brought a great revolution to mankind in almost every other fields starting from medical to aerospace applications. Nanomaterial is a broad term which represents a wide class of materials at nanometre scale such as nanoparticle, nanowire, nanoplate, nanofibre, nanorod, nanotube, nanocomposite. Here is a brief idea of the different class of nanomaterials. Nanoparticle are three dimensional nanostructre, nanowire and nanoplate are referred as one dimensional nanostructure of respective shapes with nanowire having very high length to width ratio, nanofibre is a two dimensional nanostructure with its hollow form known as nanotube and solid form known as nanorod, nanocomposite is a solid having at least one physically and chemically distinct region in nanometre scale.

In the last few decades we have witnessed the technological journey transitioned from macroscale to nanoscale. This transition affected medical field where nanotechnology is now used for targeted drug delivery, developing nanoimplants for human body, improving the strength and sustainability of macroimplants, developing of nanoelectronic biosensors and lots more. Thus medical field have advanced a lot due to the use of nanotechnology which is now used for treatment of diseases like cancer. Nanotechnology has greatly revolutionized the electronics and telecommunication industry which in turn have cause massive revolution in Information Technology industry. Earlier televisions and mobiles were giant boxes and now they are slicker. The Central Processing Unit of earlier computers having storage of 10-20 MB were so big that they need to be installed in a big room with proper cooling facility. Now modern computers have more than 1 TB of storage with many other amazing features that can be folded in the form of thin book by the use of nanocircuits in motherboards and other parts of the computers. Recent technological development is also developing quantum computing technique for lighting fast computational speed required for scientific and technical advancements. The world's largest particle physics experiment research going at CERN, Geneva is carried out and monitored by thousands of supercomputers that are connected with highly precise sensors, detectors and other parts together controlling the giant experimental setup. This setup has paved the path for us to peek into the sub-atomic size particles and precisely analyse them as they merely exist for less than a nanosecond and are the building blocks of matter and universe. This accurate studies at sub-atomic level is possible because of huge revolution in the electronics and IT industry by the use of nanotechnology. The need of advanced materials having ultra-high strength, light weight and better durability for defense and aerospace industries have been fulfilled by the use of nanotechnology. Different nanoparticles, nanowires, nanotubes and nonorods having excellent strength and unique properties are used as reinforcing agents to develop different types of ultra-high strength nanocomposites having light weight. Thus nanotechnology is continuously revolutionizing  human life by providing unique solutions to different science and technological barriers in every field and the story of its earlier, present and future contributions will always remain unending.